Aston Martin have certainly had fortunes sway away from their favour this year. Last year, the team had a very strong start, including 6 podiums in 8 races by Fernando Alonso, ending up with 8 overall. However, since about the mid-point of last season, the team fell off and only managed a 5th place finish in the Constructors’ Championship.
That being said, the fortunes have fallen even further for Team Silverstone. The team has no podiums so far this season, and while they fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, they are in no man’s land, sitting with more than double the points of RB in 6th, but they are more than 200 points adrift of Mercedes in 4th.
This has clearly taken a toll on the team and it showed in the Dutch Grand Prix. While the team had a respectable qualifying, with Alonso and Stroll starting in 7th and 8th, abysmal race pace saw them claim only a single point thanks to the Spaniard.
Krack took the time to address his team’s poor day, and how Saturday did not translate to Sunday. He went as far as to say that the AMR24 is not good enough.
“I think we had a very strong qualifying,” he said. “I think the drivers did a fantastic job in very difficult conditions, in the wind, and we started more or less in the best possible position for where we are with the car.
“And actually, we hoped for a bit more today, but we got passed on the start by one competitor, and then also by strategy. We [Stroll] could not get Hulkenberg at the end.”
“So, disappointing. A lot of hard work for one point. We take it, but we have to urgently improve the car performance.
“For the drivers, it’s really tough, if you move backwards from a hard-earned start position. The car is not good enough.”
Krack reassured that his entire team has more work to do, since they should be staying in their positions and moving up, not looking behind.
Aston’s 2024 car has tended to be stronger in qualifying, before fading away on a Sunday.
“Normally we prefer to look to the front than the cars behind,” he said. “We thought after qualifying maybe we misjudged a bit the situation, or maybe the drivers did really an outstanding job yesterday.
“Which probably is the case, because we thought we had a bit more pace. And today we were reminded that we hadn’t.”
