Mike Krack says it was important for Aston Martin to close the first half in a better way with a Top 5 finish after a slow run.
After a solid start to Aston Martin’s F1 2023 season, there came a dip in their performance with low key results as McLaren pushed themselves ahead in the pack along with Ferrari and Mercedes. This allowed others to close in on the points tally.
But the Belgian GP saw a better result for Fernando Alonso who was a solid fifth and it came at the right time with the start of the summer break. “This is very, very important, I think for everybody involved, they have all put crazy hours over the last weeks,” said Krack to media.
“And it’s always important to realize that hardware pay offs, otherwise you get disillusiosed, and it’s becoming more and more difficult. And I think that was very, very positive for the team, that you see that with working hard together we can improve the car. But this was only the first step.
“I mean, we are still not not anywhere near a podium. So I think there is much more we need. That obviously has been key, also to make the steps to the front. But Fernando says as well, you know, where was it lately, we also made some steps in front in the beginning, and then we drove back the old…
“So he said to me that he was not under threat at Spa, you know, to fall back again. Yeah, he took the position in the beginning and kept hold of it, it was not that there was a major danger coming from the back. And this is the difference to the previous races,” summed up Krack, who reckoned the data collected gave them optimism.
Here’s Stoffel Vandoorne getting his first Aston Martin chance
Here’s Fernando Alonso on getting back in Top 5