Aston Martin is not where they expect to be but worked hard to leave Imola with 2 points. Team Principal Mike Krack spoke of the impact the upgrades had, high standards and the difference a year can make in F1.
On this occasion, it is Lance Stroll who the team praise after some determined driving coupled with some superb team strategy. The team made the decision to extend Stroll’s first stint on the Medium compounds in the hope that there would be a Safety Car period which would bring with it a shortened pitstop.
Even though the Safety Car window never arrived, Stroll’s effective tyre management in the first stint meant that he had the ability to maximise his set of the fresher Hard compound. This ensured that Stroll had the package beneath him to get track position through overtaking and his passes on the impressive pairing of Nico Hülkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda were particularly impressive.
“A good race, two points,” Krack said post-race. “I think in Imola, when you start from where we started, it’s difficult, but then they come away with two points. I think it was quite a good outcome. It shows that the car is still capable of doing things, but we have also seen that it is difficult to drive. We had a couple of offs over the weekend.”
Fernando Alonso’s error meant the team was “really on the back foot from that point onwards.” Aston Martin did though choose to start the Spanish 2-time F1 Drivers’ World Champion from the pitlane as the team “wanted to learn more…and make a change on the car to make it easier.”
One person who would know whether it had done so was Alonso. The Spanish driver had previously said that he couldn’t tell if the set-up change had actually made things better so Krack was asked post-race he could explain what the difference was.
“Yeah, the cars were quite different,” Krack confirmed. “I think we have, between the two cars, we just come from the debrief, so between the two cars we have seen differences to the changes. They are not always positive in one direction or negative in the other, but I think it was good to do that, to learn as much as possible, as quick as possible.”
Aston Martin are a long way from the form they had in the early part of the 2023 F1 season and Krack reflected as to why this is explaining how other teams have been bringing upgrades to their car at this time too — which was not necessarily the case in previous years.
The Silverstone-based team’s updates have tended not to work too well either.
“The other teams have the same list [of upgrades], so we are not happy with two points, that is clear, but other people are also bringing upgrades, so it is always a relative game, so you have to really try to keep up there and understand what you are doing.
“It is tough, we must not underestimate that. I think except one team, everybody had a one-page full of upgrades, so it shows how competitive the whole field is and it is something where you have to really keep pushing, keep pushing and bringing more stuff and also understand everything.”
Krack was also keen to highlight that the performance is track specific in his eyes due to the nature of the circuit in Imola.
“Let’s analyse what we have,” Krack pondered. “Imola is very special, especially when you compare it to Miami. You come here, it is a traditional track, very rough, low bumps, very high kerbs. You heard on Friday that everybody was complaining a little bit about harsh ride and the cars jumping and these things.
“I think we have some lessons to learn from what we have introduced and we will do so and try to be stronger next week.” Krack concluded.
Next week is Monaco, a circuit which Aston Martin were in contention to win at in 2023. Krack’s target is clear, to extract the full potential of the AMR24 for the races to come.
The performance in the principality this time round could be a good indication as to what success Aston Martin will have in the coming months.
