Why Aston Martin avoided easy way out during early-season overhaul

Aston Martin

Why Aston Martin avoided easy way out during early-season overhaul

The Silverstone-based team welcomed team principal Krack in March

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Wednesday 30 November 2022 11:12

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has insisted a calm approach was required when he first joined the team instead of making "easy" radical changes.

Krack joined Aston Martin ahead of the start of the season in March and despite a sluggish start, led the Silverstone-based organisation to a strong end to the season.

Despite the ambitious rebranding from Racing Point for 2021, form deteriorated as a restructuring process took place, with Otmar Szafnauer switching to Alpine that led to Krack's appointment.

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Asked what his initial challenges were when taking the post, Krack said: "Sometimes it is more difficult not to do radical things. It was important to stay calm.

"I'd been out of Formula 1 for many years but some things have not changed, so you need to analyse what the problem is. You cannot change five things at a time.

"It is about what weaknesses we have to address first."

Aston Martin has "correct people" to improve

Sebastian Vettel, who was replaced for the opening two rounds by Nico Hulkenberg, and Lance Stroll all initially struggled to get to grips with Aston Martin's challenger for F1's new regulatory era.

But a change in direction saw an almost complete change to the car design brought in for the Spanish Grand Prix.

On his priorities in the early part of the year, Krack said: "I remember very well we sat together in Melbourne for a long time.

"The first thing we decided was that we had to give feedback to the drivers, so they can feel what the car is doing before identifying 'What do we do next?'

"From that point of view, it's important you trust the people you have without anticipating making quick reactions in terms of the personnel, otherwise you lose time.

"Because for new people to get into their groove is another couple of months.

"We have the correct people, the right people, and the reactions were very good."