F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Aston Martin's Krack: We must give our drivers 'better tools'

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack says the Silverstone-based outfit must provide its drivers with a better car in upcoming races after an exhausting "damage limitation" race at Monza last weekend.

Fernando Alonso managed to score 2 points as he finished ninth in the Italian Grand Prix while Lance Stroll concluded his race a lowly 16th.

There were little positives to take way for the team, and that was perhaps not unexpected given the inherent weakness of Aston's AMR23 on low-downforce tracks.

Still, the underperformance coupled with Ferrari's double top-four finish pushed Aston back to fourth in F1's Constructors Championship behind the Scuderia.

Krack stressed that Aston must now make the most of the lessons it has taken away from Monza to offer a better car to its drivers, not only in upcoming races but especially at high-speed, low downforce venues, such as Las Vegas next November.

"The term damage limitation I think we stressed it a bit too much already," said Krack after the race, quoted by Motorsport.com.

"Yes, two points. But we lost a position to Ferrari. And the most important thing is that we take the lessons learned for Las Vegas, and also for next year.

"So I think it's really important. We had similar issues last year when we came here, and we need to do a step forward in these kinds of circuits."

©AstonMartin

Krack said that the team's medium-to-hard one-stop strategy and the tyre degradation that it induced in the latter stages of each stint proved taxing for Alonso and Stroll.

"I think honestly, both drivers did a fantastic job, because the car was really difficult to drive," he said.

"They were both finished. And honestly, we have to give our drivers a better car, they drove themselves out of out of it. You should have seen them, they were really, really exhausted.

"Obviously, we did such a strategy, you take all the tyre degradation with you when you do a one-stop, but it was it was the thing to do. And it was difficult, and we need to give them better tools. Like this it's difficult to race for good points."

©AstonMartin

Like its rivals, Aston is progressively winding down its development programme. Nevertheless, the team still has a few updates in its pipeline to improve its AMR23.

"We have a list of things still coming from now to the end of the season. Vegas I think is the second to last race, and we hope that some of these updates are helping to do that," said the Aston boss.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

FIA confirms Red Bull-Ford’s lead in second ADUO evaluation

Red Bull-Ford has retained its position as Formula 1’s power unit benchmark after the FIA…

26 minutes ago

Audi F1 junior Slater hails ‘incredible’ Madring after F3 test

Spain’s new Madring has yet to host its first Formula 1 race, but FIA F3…

1 hour ago

Webber reveals how F1 greats shaped his guidance of Piastri

Mark Webber’s role in Oscar Piastri’s career is not simply about managing the McLaren driver’s…

3 hours ago

Hot off the press, cool in the cockpit

Had Niki Lauda been given the good fortune to read the next day's newspaper on…

4 hours ago

Ferrari set for emotional Michael Schumacher tribute at Monza

Few places in Formula 1 carry as much emotional weight for Ferrari as Monza, and…

5 hours ago

Red Bull hit with Dutch GP reality check: ‘We’ve taken a step back’

Red Bull has been forced to confront an uncomfortable reality after the Dutch Grand Prix,…

6 hours ago