Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack says the Silverstone-based outfit must have a car that is strong everywhere, a prerequisite to contend for the F1 world championship.
Aston Martin is currently third in the F1's Constructors' standings following a remarkable string of performances in the first half of its 2023 campaign that included six podiums claimed by Fernando Alonso.
While Aston's results have exceeded its expectations, the team's AMR23 is still missing an element of versatility as the car's clear strength remains slow-speed corners, which implies that it is lacking advantages in other areas.
Addressing ahead of F1's summer break the upcoming schedule of venues, Krack said: "If you want to play your role in the championship, you have to be strong everywhere.
"You cannot say: 'We will go for that track or that track.'
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"Zandvoort and Monza are very different and then we have Singapore and Japan, which are also very different.
"You need to perform well on all four of the next four tracks, and you need to have a package ready that allows you to go more on the low drag to high [aerodynamic] efficiency to high or maximum downforce.
"The car has to behave well everywhere. This has to be the basics and then obviously, you will do your wings to adjust to the [demands] of the [specific] track."
Alonso's last podium with Aston was last June at the Canadian Grand Prix. Since, Team Silverstone appears to have lost ground to its direct rivals Mercedes, Ferrari and even McLaren, not to mention Red Bull.
Krack believes all the latter teams have improved more than Aston but insists that in terms of absolute performance the lost ground has not been as significant as it has appeared.
However, the Luxembourger also points "side effects" from Aston's upgrades that have weighed on the AMR23's performance.
"We've lost small amounts compared to our competitors and as an engineer, that makes you disappointed, but it's the qualifying and finishing positions that give the perception that we've dropped back massively when in reality we haven't," said Krack.
"Our competitors have just improved more than us and jumped into that gap between us and Red Bull.
"We're constantly pushing the development, and these cars are so complex that any change will impact other areas of the car - there are side-effects. Very few changes you make to the car work in isolation.
"We made a change earlier in the season and didn't anticipate it having some of the side-effects that it did. It wasn't until after several races at different types of circuits that we realised how it was influencing the car."
Krack says he expects teams at the front of the field to continue to swap positions in the back-half of the season.
"The upgrades we have put on the car have worked, and the numbers are where they should be - but I think the results over the last few races are representative of where we are.
"I expect the second half of the season to see more close racing with the advantage swinging back and forth again."
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