Aston Martin and Mercedes started sharing the provision of official course cars last year, Aston delivering a 4.0L twin-turbo V8 Vantage producing 528bhp.
For 2022 Mercedes introduced a new 730bhp Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series, which was used in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The Mercedes is much closer to a pure track car than the Aston and is believed to be around five seconds faster per lap.
The Aston Martin safety car, driven by former DTM racer Bernd Maylander, was pressed into action twice during Sunday’s 58-lap race following an off by Carlos Sainz Jr and a crash for Sebastian Vettel.
Verstappen, who took both restarts from second place behind leader Charles Leclerc before his retirement, said the Aston “was like a turtle” that prevented drivers from restarting the race with sufficient heat in their Pirelli tyres.
PLUS: How decisions Ferrari aced and Red Bull regretted led to Leclerc’s Melbourne masterclass
“There’s so little grip and also the safety car was driving so…
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