Is Aston Martin extremely demoralised under Stroll reign?
May 7 - Engineers at Aston Martin have become "extremely demoralised" after new team owner Lawrence Stroll's fast-track plan for a competitive car backfired.
That is the view of former F1 team boss Colin Kolles, who has been firing barbs at both Stroll and Aston Martin shareholder Toto Wolff recently.
For instance, he said Mercedes boss Wolff is billionaire Stroll's "lap dog", and accused Aston Martin of only signing Sebastian Vettel in order to make Lance Stroll look better.
Now, he has told Sport1 that Lawrence Stroll overruled the Silverstone based team's technical strategy by forcing the 'pink Mercedes' on them last year.
"In the past, the engineers were allowed to develop themselves there. They had little budget, they were very young and efficient, very motivated and in some cases also very innovative," said Kolles.
"Since Stroll has been in charge, things have changed. And I mean everything."
The biggest of those changes was, according to former HRT and boss Kolles, ordering the "almost 1:1 copy" of the title-winning 2019 Mercedes car be built.
"The engineers actually wanted to build a different car - one with a heavily sloping rear like the Red Bull - because the team had made its cars according to this philosophy for years," he alleged.
"But Stroll only wanted a copy of the Mercedes because that it seemed like the easiest way for him to achieve his goals. It is my way or no way - that's Stroll's mentality.
"He bought everything from Wolff," Kolles said.
When the aerodynamic rules then changed for 2021, the teams most affected were Mercedes and Aston Martin - but only Mercedes was able to rapidly react and improve.
As for Aston Martin, "the engineers can't do anything with a car they didn't want at all", Kolles insists.
"They are now extremely demoralised and hanging in the air. There is a lot of displeasure in that team now."
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ffs , he didnt call Stroll Totos lap dog it was Bernie, get it right
or even the other way around
This guy Kolles has a huge chip on his shoulder.
They did ok last year
Colin Kolles was terrible at his job and was let go after 11/2 years he had no clue
well to be fair, he was actively involved in f1 teams for 4 yrs and 10 mths so not exactly a beginner , regardless of how good he was at his job, some of what he says in the article is fact and some is personal opinion, which is pretty much what we all say here
Lawrence Stroll's theory to make a small fortune from team ownership in F1... Invest a huge fortune.
Going to plan.
In July 2013, it emerged that Kolles had previously tried to blackmail Mercedes-Benz Motorsport boss Toto Wolff after he had allegedly recorded Wolff making negative remarks about the Mercedes F1 Team's management. The two allegedly settled the matter privately.
Kolles shut the f### up he doesn't like the fact HE just wasn't good enough to make the grade
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