Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack is optimistic about the team’s performance saying they are no longer “in no-man’s land”.
The AMR24 demonstrated an impressive performance following a disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix. The Silverstone team had the fifth fastest race car on the grid and both the Aston Martin’s finished in the points, Alonso in 9th and Stroll in 10th. However, the Spaniard finished almost 20s behind Oscar Piastri in 8th.
In Saudi Arabia, Alonso finished P5, holding off the Mercedes of George Russell — he also beat Norris and Hamilton on the day. It was P6 in Australia before receiving his post-race penalty and dropping down to 8th place for alleged dangerous driving against Geroge Russell on the penultimate lap of the Australian Grand Prix.
In Suzuka, Alonso finished in 6th place and put out a fantastic performance to finish ahead of the two Mercedes drivers and Oscar Piastri.
Team Principal Mike Krack stated that Alonso has been delivering a fantastic performance for the team after his stellar weekend in Japan.
“I think we can agree that we were not in no man’s land and that is positive,” he said.
He also explained the explanation why the AMR24 was able to pull off a lot of overtakes in the hands of Lance Stroll. The Canadian overtook 7 cars in the esses throughout the Grand Prix.
“Because here, with the high degradation and — you can pass, we have seen you can pass in incredible places, although I wasn’t aware that you can pass through the esses — but you see that with a large enough pace delta and tyre delta, you can do it if you’re brave enough.”
Although Saudi Arabia and Japan in particular saw Aston Martin clearly get themselves in amongst Mercedes and McLaren, Krack is wary of making too many predictions and wants more data points before confirming they are in the fight behind Red Bull and Ferrari.
Aston brought an updated package to Suzuka, and it helped Alonso outqualify Piastri, Hamilton, Leclerc and Russell.
“But we did not seem to be in no-man’s land. We seem to be in the pack. We were ahead of the Mercedes. So that is very encouraging.
“But again, it’s one data point. Bahrain is easier to pass than here. But we were never really under threat, let’s put it like that. Let’s see, we need to confirm over the next races.”
