Aston Martin’s Mike Krack: “We had a frustrating end to a weekend to forget”

Mike Krack admitted the Australian Grand Prix was a frustrating one for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team as they failed to score a top ten finish for a third consecutive race.

Lance Stroll ended the day twelfth after a hard tyre gamble almost paid off, but a returning Sebastian Vettel ended his day in the barriers at turn four to end a weekend to forget for the four-time World Champion.

Vettel’s weekend started with a mechanical issue in first practice that prevented him from participating in the second session, while both he and Stroll crashed out in final practice before both were eliminated in Q1 in Saturday afternoon’s Qualifying session.

Krack, the Team Principal at Aston Martin, said the team just did not have the pace to fight for a top ten finish across a weekend where everything seemed to go against the Silverstone-based squad.

“We had a frustrating end to a weekend to forget,” said Krack.  “Sebastian had an accident on the exit of Turn Four, and was taken to the Medical Centre for precautionary checks, but I am glad to say he is OK.

“Our strategy team reacted cleverly to the lap-four Safety Car triggered by [Carlos] Sainz’s lap-three shunt, pitting Lance twice in quick succession. He had started on the Hard, which we expected to be a better race tyre than the Medium, so we gave him just a single lap on the Medium before pitting him again to put him back on the Hard.

“At one point we hoped that that strategy might lift him to a points finish, but in the end it did not quite do that.”

Krack says they will head to their Silverstone base to see what they can do to turn around their fortunes ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix later this month, with an urgency to score their first points of the season having fallen to the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship.

“From here we will go home to Silverstone where we will work hard to prepare for Imola, where we want and expect to have a better race than we have had here,” he said.

“Nonetheless, I am pleased that the famously passionate Melbourne fans have had a Grand Prix to enjoy at Albert Park for the first time in three years.”