Mike Krack, team principal at Aston Martin, makes no secret about the mistakes made in the development of the AMR23. The British outfit introduced a significant update package in Canada, but the results of these supposed improvements have been counter-productive.
The first alarm signs arrived in Austria when McLaren proved itself capable of fighting at the front – courtesy of the updates Andrea Stella’s team added to the MCL60.
Aston Martin’s situation became clearer in Silverstone and then Hungary, where Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were relegated to the lower end of the points.
Dan Fallows and his technical department deserve huge praise for their development over the winter, but the last few months have undoubtedly been a blow to the team.
Despite the quite fundamental issues at Mercedes and Ferrari, Aston finds itself losing touch with its rivals. With that said, a minor package in Belgium seemed to counter some of the weaknesses that emerged in the AMR23 post-Canada.
Speaking in a recent interview, team boss Mike Krack discussed the situation:
“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.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23
“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.
“Events like Monaco and Canada were outliers. They masked our weaknesses.
“Because we did well in those events, expectations ramped up only for the disappointment to be bigger at Barcelona, Austria, Silverstone and Budapest when we couldn’t achieve such top results.”
Formula 1 is becoming increasingly competitive – at least behind Red Bull – so the margin for error continues to shrink.
Aston Martin will be frustrated with their mid-season difficulties, but they can take encouragement from how rapidly some teams have improved in the last twelve months.
Author: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
