Don’t push your weaknesses, play with your strengths. Exactly what Fernando Alonso has been doing since the start of the season. However, the seven-time-world champion caught up to the Spaniard’s tactics and found his weakness, pressed hard onto that weak nerve. The Briton went toe to toe with Alonso and capitalized on the revealed weakness which bagged him a podium. What is this weakness and how did Lewis Hamilton capitalize on it?

The two oldest and most experienced F1 drivers have gone toe to toe twice already this season for podium places. Fernando Alonso pipped Lewis Hamilton in the Bahrain GP, overtaking him towards the end of the race. Whereas Hamilton kept the Spaniard at bay during the Australian GP. The 41-year-old tried multiple times to push and build pressure on the seven-time world champion. However, the Briton survived the pressure every single time and learned a thing or two about Alonso’s Aston Martin.

While battling with the two-time-world champion, Lewis Hamilton realized that the Aston Martin lacked straight-line speed and wasn’t able to make grounds on his W14 on straights. However, the AMR23 was quicker in the corners. The Mercedes driver capitalized on the Silverstone-based team’s weakness to finish ahead of Alonso at Albert Park. Hamilton was happy about finishing ahead of Alonso but still expects more from his car and his team.

According to speedcafe.com, Lewis Hamilton said “I think we were probably slightly quicker on the straight and he was quicker through all the corners. It was really quite interesting just to see where we were lacking and where we were good. There’s also a positive statement today but we do naturally need to add on some performance. They’ve [Aston Martin] been ahead the past two races but for us to somehow still finish ahead is pretty awesome, so I’ll definitely take it.”

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Aston Martin does not shy away from accepting that its car is a little draggy and supposedly featured a new wing in Australia that helped them a little. Although the Aston Martin is still nowhere near the straight-line performance of Red Bull, they are the best team in braking and traction zones. The question that rises now is whether Aston Martin can catch up to Red Bull.

Mike Krack opens up about the possibility of catching Red Bull

Aston Martin has a boatload more aerodynamic testing time in comparison to Red Bull, meaning they can develop the car further into the season. However, Mike Krack does not believe in these comparisons of percentages of aerodynamic testing time. He doesn’t expect the Red Bull development to slow down because just because of less testing time. Krack trusts in getting to know his own car better and then working on its weaknesses.

According to Formula1.com, Mike Krack said, “Well, the reference is always there [with] the fastest car, you know? That is one thing, and the other thing is in terms of identifying weaknesses and areas for improvement, you look at your own car and look on the weekend how it goes. It doesn’t make sense to go, ‘We have this percentage on them, we have this percentage on them’; you need to look at your own car and assess where it is weak and move from there.”

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Will Aston Martin be able to make their car less draggy while still retaining the high downforce levels?