Mike Krack says Aston Martin's impressive performance across the first three races of 2023 is encouraging, but the team boss is cautious when evaluating the outfit's position in F1's pecking order.
In Australia, Fernando Alonso delivered to Aston its third consecutive podium of the season, capping a string of results achieved on three very different circuits, which bodes well for Team Silverstone's future performance.
"To be competitive in all three obviously means we are confident as we can be at other circuits," said Krack.
"The range of circuits is very different, we have Baku with huge straights and then you have Monaco with no straights, so all these kinds of things it will always shift the field left and right.
"And this is why I am always saying we must be careful now to draw too many conclusions from one race event.
"Then also when you saw [in Melbourne] the race strategy and how it played out then you just had to manage, you do not even get a representation of the pace, that's why I am always very careful to be too firm in conclusions."
"So far, Aston's remarkable progress this season has allowed the team to establish itself as a front-runner behind the dominant Red Bull team, on par with Ferrari and Mercedes, or even ahead of its rivals, depending on the track and circumstances.
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Aston was beaten in qualifying by Ferrari in Jeddah and by Mercedes in Melbourne, but Krack insists there's little that separates those bidding for a runner-up spot behind Red Bull on race day.
"This is also something when I say we need to wait a couple of races," he added. "You cannot say after one race you are here or there, you need more data samples to really understand where you are.
"You saw in Bahrain we were very competitive against many teams, in Jeddah it was OK, and here [in Melbourne] we had a proper fight.
"So if you look at all the data or take all the data and look where you are, again you will find that the margins are very close."
Alonso's scintillating form coupled with Aston's performance has inevitably led to speculation over a potential race win this season.
Krack believes Monaco and Barcelona, where the importance of a car's straight-line speed isn't as significant, could play into the hands of Aston's AMR23.
"I think there are some tracks where the combination of this driver with this car may still be more magical, Monaco, Barcelona..." the Luxembourger told DAZN.
"We have deficiencies on very long straights, it's no secret. We have seen it and we have to work on it a lot.
"On tracks where this doesn't count as much is where we can have more confidence, but being fast in these races isn't everything.
"You have to be fast, you have to finish, not make mistakes and then see what the result is."
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