After Haas announced that Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg would start from the pit lane in the Austin GP, Aston Martin also decided to send Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll to the back. Given the very limited time available during the single practice session held on Friday, both teams have chosen to overhaul the setup of their respective cars, breaking the parc fermé rule.
Haas and Aston Martin Choose to Start Their Drivers from the Pit Lane in the Austin GP
The news came just a few minutes ago and will disrupt the starting grid established by Friday’s qualifications, even though it affects the last positions.
As we know, Aston Martin introduced a significant package of upgrades for the Texan weekend, taking on a substantial risk. However, the mere 60 minutes of practice time did not prove sufficient for the British team to find the ideal setup. Fernando Alonso immediately complained about being unable to achieve the right balance.
This resulted in a double elimination in Q1, with Lance Stroll in the penultimate position, while the Spaniard astonishingly finished in seventeenth place. This put an end to Alonso’s consecutive Q3 appearances, illustrating the considerable challenges the AMR23 faced with its setup.
Haas didn’t fare much better, with the team led by Guenther Steiner bringing a completely revamped car concept to Austin, aligning more with the Red Bull philosophy.
Here, too, the limited time available prevented Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg from unleashing their full potential, with the Dane qualifying in fourteenth place and the German in sixteenth.
At the start of the grand prix we will see the two Haas cars line up ahead of the two Aston Martins in the pit lane, in the hope that they have sacrificed their grid positions for a better race setup.
Here is the starting grid for the 2023 F1 USA GP before the decision of Haas and Aston Martin to start from the pitlane:
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