Formula 1 Australian GP
Krack: Too early to draw conclusions on Aston Martin F1 form
Aston Martin Formula 1 boss Mike Krack has cautioned that it's still too early to say where the team stands relative to Mercedes and Ferrari in the 2023 pecking order.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Apr 9, 2023, 6:12 AM
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However, he conceded that the Silverstone team was encouraged by the strong form shown across the first three tracks on the schedule while insisting that small margins will make a difference from weekend to weekend.
Fernando Alonso took his third podium of the season in Melbourne, but the Spaniard was beaten to the flag by a car other than a Red Bull for the first time, with Lewis Hamilton taking second for Mercedes.
Lance Stroll meanwhile spent much of the race chasing the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, eventually claiming fourth after the former retired and the latter was penalised.
Over one lap in qualifying, Aston Martin was beaten by Ferrari at the first two venues and by Mercedes at the third, but on balance the team had the second or third fastest car throughout the season so far, reflecting the huge step made since last season.
"That is definitely true, three circuits with three different characteristics," said Krack when asked by Motorsport.com if being competitive across three tracks was encouraging.
"To be competitive in all three obviously means we are confident as we can be at other circuits.
"The range of circuits is very different, we have Baku with huge straights and then you have Monaco with no straights, so all these kinds of things it will always shift the field left and right.
"And this is why I am always saying we must be careful now to draw too many conclusions from one race event.
"Then also when you saw [in Melbourne] the race strategy and how it played out then you just had to manage, you do not even get a representation of the pace, that's why I am always very careful to be too firm in conclusions."
Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team, chats with Andreas Seidl, CEO, Sauber Group
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Krack acknowledged that losing out to Mercedes for the first time in both qualifying and the race in Melbourne showed that the team was right to be a little cautious.
"This is also something when I say we need to wait a couple of races," he said. "You cannot say after one race you are here or there, you need more data samples to really understand where you are.
"You saw in Bahrain we were very competitive against many teams, in Jeddah it was OK, and here [in Melbourne] we had a proper fight.
"So if you look at all the data or take all the data and look where you are, again you will find that the margins are very close."
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Stroll admitted that the team wasn't as strong in Australia relative to rivals as it had been in the opening two races.
"I don't think we were quite as quick today as we were at the first couple of races," said the Canadian.
"Alpine was actually pretty quick here in front of me, and then Carlos had a strong race, and I don't think we had the edge on the competitors today. But yeah, still we were solid all weekend, and it was a good result."
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