Mike Krack admitted that the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team were hoping to bring home some points from the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, but it was not to be as Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel missed out on finishing inside the top ten.
Stroll ran as high as fifth early on as he managed his opening set of tyres but opting on a different strategy to many of his rivals meant he was vulnerable to attack late on, and he ultimately fell to thirteenth by the chequered flag.
Vettel was climbing through the field and was homing in on the top ten, only for the German to be spun into the gravel trap after contact with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. Gasly earned a five-second time penalty for the contact, but Vettel’s race was heavily compromised, and he finished the day seventeenth and last after also taking a five-second penalty for excessive track limit violations.
Krack, the Team Principal at Aston Martin, says the team were lacking some performance at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday, but he hopes they can return to the points in the next couple of races, starting with the French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard later this month.
“With Lance starting twelfth, we felt there was a reasonable chance to score points this afternoon,” said Krack. “He drove well today, despite our car struggling a little for performance.
“He climbed as high as fifth during the first phase of the race, managed his first set of tyres for thirty laps, and enjoyed a spirited tussle with [George] Russell and [Mick] Schumacher.
“Sebastian was unfortunate. He was climbing through the field and had just pulled off a well-judged pass when he was tapped into the Turn Four gravel – a move that rightly earned Gasly a five-second penalty. From that point, there was not much else he could do.
“Once again, we brought two cars home reliably – which is a great testament to the hard work of the mechanics – and we will be aiming to score points in France and Hungary before the summer break.”