Team principal Mike Krack said Aston Martin wants to improve the car in all areas and further develop Formula 1’s competitive order, but warned that the team must not “go into full destruction mode” in the process.
Aston Martin has taken 12 points from the last two races in Singapore and Azerbaijan, having picked up just six points from the previous four rounds. The last two results came thanks to an impressive performance from Fernando Alonso. However, Aston Martin are well off the pace of the top four teams and Krack said the overall level of competitiveness was an issue the team needed to address.
“It’s not an easy topic because everyone is either upgrading, removing some, or removing all, and going back to previous specs,” Krack said. “I wish we were in a different position, but we’re not. Maybe other people will understand too. [development] Faster than us. We must be self-critical. These results we have obtained should not hide the fact that we are not where we want to be.
“Now we must not go into full destruction mode as a team, but we must make sure that the positive results we are accumulating do not hide the fact that we need to improve, or that we are not where we want to be.
“And that’s very important for us as a whole team. From the outside looking in, we’re scoring, scoring, scoring, scoring, but the four teams in front of us are always scoring three to four times more points per race. We see it through to the end of the day.”
Like many teams, Krack says upgrades targeting broad areas of the car’s performance rather than one specific weakness will likely be introduced for the upcoming United States Grand Prix.
“I mean, there are some problems with the current car,” he admitted. “The top and bottom of the pit lane are the same. Downforce, balance and sequence will vary depending on the type of corner and circuit. [In Singapore] And Baku is a short corner and Monza’s last corner never stops, but both need to improve because neither is good enough.
“I think it’s both. [mechanical and aerodynamic]And while it is always difficult to fully identify them, we need to take good steps in both. Because reports show that when the speed is very low, drivers are also not satisfied.”
Aston Martin again finished comfortably fifth in the Constructors’ Championship this season, but fifth was its best result of the year compared to eight podiums in 2023 (three of them runners-up).
