Mike Krack: “Taking home one world championship point is little reward for a job well done”

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Sebastian Vettel made it into the points with a tenth place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix, as team-mate Lance Stroll fell just short in eleventh after a late-race team order to switch the drivers in pursuit of a ninth place finish for the team. 

Principal Mike Krack said that he was pleased with the team’s efforts in Hungary, having calculated their strategy well for the conditions and ending up with a point to add to the tally. 

“This afternoon was anything but straightforward: we managed our tyre life throughout the entire race, judged the strategy very well, and managed both drivers to obtain a good result for the team. 

“Lance drove a strong race – he managed his tyres well, pulled off some great overtaking moves when it really mattered, and did a great job to close on [Valtteri] Bottas and move into the points. 

Krack shared the reasoning behind switching the drivers to move Vettel ahead, as he said that Vettel had better pace on his tyres compared to Stroll, so they made the order in an effort to try and increase their chance of overtaking Esteban Ocon for ninth place. 

This ultimately led to Stroll missing out on the points, as Vettel was unable to catch Ocon– due in part to the timing of the Virtual Safety Car that was deployed– and it was too late to switch the drivers back as previously planned. 

“From 10th, we instructed him to chase down Ocon; with a handful of laps remaining, and with Sebastian showing greater overall pace on the Medium tyre, we switched cars. Our intention was to switch the cars back if Sebastian could not snatch ninth position, but, in the end, it was too close to safely make the change – Sebastian crossed the line just 0.143s behind Ocon.”

“I know Lance will be disappointed, but it was worth the roll of the dice to try and increase today’s points tally.”

Krack said that the single point the team earned isn’t quite representative of the great job they did, praising the drivers’ “relentless” performance at the Hungaroring and the competitiveness of their race package. 

“Taking home one world championship point is little reward for a job well done, but we showed today how hard we can fight – both drivers were relentless, our race pace was strong and our strategy allowed us to pick off the cars ahead of us.”

Heading into summer break, Krack said that he was proud of the team’s efforts throughout the beginning of the season and looks forward to returning to Belgium refreshed and ready to compete. 

“We will take those positives into the summer break and come back stronger for the second half of the season. For now, I want to wish our whole team a well-deserved break over the summer. Everyone has worked tirelessly and I am extremely proud of our entire organisation. We will come back with fresh focus and look forward to the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August.”

Credit: Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team