Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack has warned that catching up with Red Bull this season will not be an easy task. While upgrading the car is only “relative” to what their rivals do, the team has made a flying start to their season, eking out a nine-point advantage over Mercedes and 39 up on Ferrari.
After last year’s struggles, the Silverstone team introduced a B-spec car and built on the Red Bull-esque design to create a top-three car in this year’s ARM23. Three podiums with a hat-trick of P3s for Fernando Alonso have established Aston Martin as Red Bull’s closest rival, not only on the track but in the standings.
However, with Red Bull’s advantage on the track all but guaranteeing them a 1-2 result barring complications, Krack acknowledges that making up points isn’t easy with Red Bull on track to grab the majority.
“In a cost cap environment, with such intensity of racing, you have to start with a good car, because to play catch-up along the year – and if you are down on points, as we have seen last year – it’s quite impossible, because there was not much to score,” he said.
“Even if you had the fourth-fastest car last year, you were just not scoring enough to make up for any gaps.”
Krack admitted he’s wary of Aston Martin’s chances of maintaining their advantage as they have less scope to improve, having begun the season well ahead of last year’s car. He stated that they need to make progress to stay where they are.
Although Aston Martin has made massive strides forward this season, Krack says it is the same “very dedicated team” as it was last season. He acknowledges that racing at the sharp end of the grid means they are “much more exposed” should any mistakes play out on a race weekend.
“If we make mistakes on pit stops or on strategy, it is maybe spotted more than it would potentially have been before,” he said. “But other than that, the job itself is not very different.”
