Aston Martin boss Mike Krack says it's important that his team recovers from its current slump and finishes its 2023 campaign on a high note where it started.
Team Silverstone was the revelation of the first part of the F1 season thanks to a string of six podiums delivered by Fernando Alonso in the first eight races of the year.
But save for another runner-up spot claimed by the Spaniard at Zandvoort, Aston's performance level has undeniably regressed in the back half of 2023.
The backsliding has also seen the team fall from second to fourth in F1's Constructors' Championship, and it isn't immune to an attack from its McLaren rival who now sits 49 points behind in the standings with six races to go.
Krack acknowledged that it's now paramount for Aston and for the morale of its troops to reverse its trend and end the year like it started: fighting for a spot on the podium.
"Yeah, I 100% agree. This is very important," said Krack, quoted by Motorsport.com. "It's a bit of the opposite of last year.
"If you have a good start, and then others are overtaking you, it is much more difficult for morale than if you do it vice versa.
"And that is something that, for us, it's very, very important to turn the trend around. Whatever that leads to finally we have to see, but this trend has to be turned."
©AstonMartin
Krack reckons that Aston Martin's relative underperformance since the middle of the summer is rooted in the failure of its development programme to keep up with the gains produced by its Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren rivals.
The edge enjoyed by Aston's AMR23 in the first part of the season – especially on high downforce tracks – has simply evaporated.
“We need to look in terms of ranking, but others had more problems at that time than we had," Krack explained. .
"So, it's something that we need to work on for the races to come. You need to have a car that works everywhere. And this we are not having at the moment."
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