Lance Stroll has revealed the Aston Martin gearbox will "completely lose sync" of its gears when going through the Lowes Hairpin at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Canadian driver explained that with speeds plummeting to their lowest of the F1 season at the iconic corner, he and team-mate Fernando Alonso must "re-sync gears" every lap of the famous street circuit in Monte Carlo.
The Silverstone-based squad has designed its own gearbox for the first time this season, after relinquishing its Mercedes customer supply in favour of a works partnership with Honda.
Whilst the Japanese marque's power unit has been besieged by problems since F1 pre-season testing, and the AMR26 has proven an underwhelming first chassis under the guidance of Adrian Newey, the car has also experienced downshift issues since the Miami Grand Prix.
Alonso addressed the matter in the Principality, highlighting how the gearbox woes could be a key factor for the team. When that was put to Stroll, he agreed.
"Yeah, I think that's going to be an issue," the three-time F1 podium finisher told media, including RacingNews365 on Thursday ahead of the weekend.
"That's why I think maybe on the grip side, a little bit less — medium- [and] high-speed corners is where it's about downforce and less about power, so we should be better in those areas.
"But I think, like other issues we have, gearbox and drivability, I think will be quite important here and will be challenging for us."
To illustrate the severity of the problem, the 27-year-old explained how "huge lap time" will be lost for the Aston Martins.
"It's a lot of things; it's downshifting," he said. "It was a little bit better in Canada, but then every time we're under like 40 kph, we lose sync of the gears, so we have to re-sync gears.
"So here, for example, every time we go through Lowes Hairpin, we're going to completely lose sync of the gears, and then we're gonna have to sync those again, which is huge lap time every time you have to sync a gear, so things like that."
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