Mike Krack said Fernando Alonso’s second place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix was a ‘tremendous result’ for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team and proof of just how far the team has come.
Alonso started on the front row for Sunday’s race at the Circuit de Monaco and was Max Verstappen’s closest challenger throughout the seventy-eight lap race, with the Spaniard securing his best result of the season despite an extra pit stop, needed when the rain intensified around the circuit a lap after he had switched to another set of dry tyres.
Krack, the Team Principal of the Silverstone-based team, said the additional stop to switch to intermediates did not affect the final result as he felt Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull Racing were out of reach on Sunday, but second place was a fantastic outcome for everyone at Aston Martin.
“Starting from the front row and finishing second with Fernando in the Monaco Grand Prix is a tremendous result for the whole team – and a significant marker for how far we’ve travelled together,” said Krack.
“This was a difficult race to manage: we fitted Fernando with the Hard compound, hoping to use the strategy to jump Max later in the race. Then the rain came! Initially, the downpour wasn’t too heavy, and we fitted Mediums because an old, worn Hard tyre is incredibly difficult to manage on a wet track.
“The rain immediately increased, and switching to Intermediates was the logical choice just a lap later. That made no difference to the result – we wouldn’t have caught Max anyway. Fernando drove magnificently in treacherous conditions to equal AMF1 Team’s best-ever result – bravo.”
Krack says it was a good effort by Lance Stroll on the other side of the garage, particularly in the early laps as he made some positional gains despite having taken damage to his AMR23 on lap one, but a braking issue meant he was unable to avoid the barriers and retirement when the rain began to fall.
“Lance struggled with damage after a couple of hits on lap one, but he drove with a good amount of verve, overtook a couple of cars and was battling hard,” Krack added. “That was great to see. He correctly judged the switch to Inters but was managing the brakes in the wet and lost his front wing after a tangle with the barriers.
“Starting 14th, it was always going to be a tricky race for Lance – but he kept his head up throughout. Now we go to Spain – with the aim of getting both cars in the points once again.”
