Both Aston Martin and Haas have opted to have both cars start from the pit lane in the United States Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso returnes to the old specification of the AMR23 after his team introduced updates to the Formula 1 car at the Circuit of the Americas.
Aston Martin came to the F1 weekend in Austin with a major update, but the team was plagued by technical problems on Friday and Saturday. For instance, Lance Stroll had to abandon his sprint race early because of a problem with his brakes, something he also suffered from on Friday.
Moreover, both drivers did not progress beyond Q1 in qualifying, a unique occurrence for Alonso this year. Due to the disappointing performance, the Silverstone-based team opted to make changes to both cars, forcing both Alonso and Stroll to start from the pit lane. While Alonso returns to the old specification, his teammate does use the new one.
Haas also made adjustments while the parc fermé was active so Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen will also start from the pit lane. The American team acknowledges that they went down the wrong path with the set-up and want to change that for their home race.