Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack says there is “huge pressure” inside the squad to revive its Formula 1 results but claims owner Lawrence Stroll understands this will take time.
This year, the team could not repeat its 2022-2023 off-season gains, where it rose from finishing seventh in the 2022 constructors’ championship to scoring six podiums in the first eight races, along with a missed win at Monaco.
Fernando Alonso was then regularly bothering Red Bull at the head of F1’s pecking order.
Although Aston’s year-on-year gains were impressive last season, rivals Ferrari and Mercedes initially persevering with flawed car concepts before joining the outwash sidepods aerodynamic path Red Bull had proven was so successful, along with McLaren leaping in front of all three squads to trail Red Bull, meant the green team’s glittering results dried up.
This term, its major front wing, floor and rear aero parts Imola upgrade package backfired and while Aston has since made alterations to try and recover its lost ground, it currently sits fifth in this year’s constructors’ standings with a best result of fifth.
In an exclusive interview with Autosport at the recent British Grand Prix, Krack discussed how “where others were underperforming and we were overperforming in the competitive order” meant early 2023 was “flattering and probably not a true reflection of where we really were as a team”.
When asked how Stroll viewed Aston’s situation in 2024 – with the outside perception that the team has gone backwards as others have gained more significantly around it – Krack replied: “Well, I think there are two aspects.
“One is: what progress do you make compared to the competition over the years? Where you have ambitious targets and you try to manage them.
"That is something that I think you have a discussion [about] and you have a plan in place and you know that you cannot go from seventh to first. It's not possible.
“You need, ‘this and this and this’. You have seen some of what we need in the future. That is one point and I think there is a certain amount of reality or realism and also patience.
“But then when you go and you zoom in and you bring upgrades and they are not delivering the performance that they should, then the pressure is increasing and rightly so.
“I think the perception from outside is not wrong or erroneous. The perception inside is huge pressure because [the Imola upgrade] doesn't deliver what you were expected to deliver and trying to solve this as quick as possible [is now the aim] and in that point, I understand also that there is less patience.
“Now, Lawrence has been in this business for long. He is very knowledgeable of how Formula 1 works, he knows also that if you have something that didn't work until you have something better, it takes time – to make new parts, to make this to make that. So, I think it's a mix between the two. It is a situation that we would not like to be in.
“We started the season in fifth, wanted to get closer, had a plan to get closer to the top cars, and have not delivered that.”
In addition to trying to recover its 2024 car development ground, Aston has also recently made a change at the top of its management structure, with ex-Mercedes engine chief Andy Cowell set to replace former McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh as group CEO in October.
