2023-07-10 09:11:01
Dear readers,
Ex-Formula 1 driver without a chance: Jack Aitken followed at the Norisring
only Tim-Tam chocolate biscuits and Katjes fruit jelly can help. Or “Comfort Foods”, as Jack Aitken calls his frustration killers. Because five years ago, the 27-year-old son of a Scot and a South Korean was driving once morest George Russell, Lando Norris or Alex Albon in Formula 2.
But while Norris amazed everyone with second place at the home Grand Prix in Silverstone in the McLaren, Albon has been showing off in the Williams for weeks and Russell defeated none other than Formula 1 record holder Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes last year, Aitken is in the DTM despite being targeted Wins hit rock bottom.
Because following the Emil Frey Ferrari driver in his first DTM race at Oschersleben was third following grid position two, he attracted attention with unnecessary crashes at Le Mans. And following missing the DTM weekend in Zandvoort, where he was needed once more in the IMSA series in the LMDh-Cadillac, he experienced the next bitter disappointment at the DTM highlight at the Norisring.
Ex-Formula 1 driver in a Ferrari at the end of the DTM field
Starting positions 25 and 26 with 27 cars say it all – only Alessio Deledda and the disqualified Patric Niederhauser started behind him. And the races were also sobering with places 17 and 20 – Aitken was penultimate in each case. On Sunday he was the only one to go a lap behind alongside his teammate Thierry Vermeulen, which was only prevented by the safety car phases the day before.
And that at the Norisring – in a Ferrari.
Felipe Fraga wrote history in the AF-Corse-Ferrari last year – and following 54 years ensured a Ferrari victory at the dozen pond. And Liam Lawson fought for the DTM title in Nuremberg in 2021 under the banner of the Prancing Horse – and became a tragic hero. After a year in Japan, the Red Bull Junior can now hope for a Formula 1 cockpit at AlphaTauri.
Albon, who was at AF Corse Lawson’s team-mate at the time, even managed to revive his Formula 1 career, which had gone into a tailspin, for more than a year in the DTM. Aitken must have been aware of that when he decided to compete in the DTM in the Emil Frey Ferrari this year. To possibly realize the dream of finding the way back into one of the 20 most coveted cockpits following just one Grand Prix as a Russell replacement at Williams in Bahrain in 2020.
Why the Norisring was poison for the new Ferrari
Jack Aitken and his teammate at the end of the field at the start on Saturday
But why was Aitken, for whom the DTM title is now finally over, completely signed off at the Norisring and only saw the field from behind? Does that have to do with the fact that the Swiss Emil Frey squad, unlike the works team AF Corse in the DTM in recent years, is not supported in the same way from Maranello?
No, it wasn’t the team, it was the brand new Ferrari 296 GT3. Because while Lawson, Albon and Fraga were still sitting in the mature 488 GT3, the successor built by the French manufacturer Oreca had its premiere this year.
And the 2.163-kilometre Norisring, a stop-and-go track with just two hairpins and an S-curve, proved to be poison for the sports car, reminiscent of a prototype, which sensationally won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring and considered one of the best GT3 cars.
Six tenths in two corners
“It really hurts, we’re nowhere,” team boss Lorenz Frey-Hilti told me on the phone, who wasn’t there because of a family celebration but suffered even more from afar with his squad. “With us, the brakes on the front axle overheat so much that we don’t have a chance.”
This is also shown by the lap times: Because in the second sector, which still has the fastest corner with the Schöller-S, Aitken lost only 0.125 seconds to “Grello” driver Thomas Preining – the fastest from starting group A – in the second qualifying, while it was pro hairpin are almost exactly three tenths. And that despite the fact that both drivers were happy with the set-up.
In addition, the 296 GT3 has its strengths in aerodynamics – and thus in fast corners – but that doesn’t matter at the Norisring. Some teams even decided to flatten the rear wing completely because only mechanical grip counts in the slow corners and you are faster on the straights.
In the race itself behind Deledda
While the brake problem in qualifying “only” manifested itself in the slow lap time, Aitken and teammate Vermeulen had an additional problem in the race: They mightn’t stay in the slipstream of a competitor for long because the brakes would get even hotter. Which is not so easy on the tight and narrow street circuit.
Under these circumstances, overtaking was almost impossible. Even the balance-of-performance adjustment on Saturday following qualifying didn’t help when those responsible recognized Ferrari’s weakness and gave the car a little more boost pressure.
On Saturday, Aitken was also pushed once morest the wall by Clemens Schmid during a restart. It was a miracle that the front axle remained intact and the brave DTM rookie finished the race. But even in Sunday’s race, the Ferrari duo was a long way behind Deledda, who has traditionally brought up the rear.
Emil Frey Team: Now Misano is coming!
But why mightn’t the problem with the brakes be fixed in time? In fact, the team from Safenwil already recognized the weak point during the test drives before the season. But the vehicle is homologated – and the team led by technical director Jürg Flach, who was head of operations at Sauber in Formula 1 for more than ten years until 2010, is dependent on Ferrari in this respect.
Now the hat is burning, because next weekend the team will be driving in the sprint series of the GT World Challenge Europe Misano – and thus on the next track, which is extremely demanding on the brakes. Luckily for Aitken: he only competes in the DTM – and at the Nürburgring, where the race continues in three weeks, there are fewer hard braking points and more fast corners.
In addition, Aitken will be a Friday tester for Jaguar customer team Envision next Friday at Formula E in Rome – and hard braking is not desirable anyway because you lose too much energy.
It is admirable that the Briton does not seem to have lost his morale following a bitter weekend, because on ‘Instagram‘ He enthuses regarding the legendary street circuit in Nuremberg and the full seats in the stands despite the extreme heat. And he reveals his possible secret: “Thank you to everyone who gave me candy this weekend. You are my real heroes.”
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