Ex-Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack praises the support of Lawrence Stroll – but the Canadian is impatient and wants to see success
Aston Martin wants to catch up with the top three teams in Formula 1: Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari. Lawrence Stroll plays an important role in this, because the Canadian businessman supports the team. According to ex-team boss Mike Krack, the father of driver Lance Stroll is “impatient” and wants to reap the first fruits of his investments soon.
Stroll took over the struggling Force India team in the 2018 season and renamed it Racing Point. In 2021, Aston Martin got on board and also took over the name of the racing team, which has since been competing in the premier class under the flag of the British manufacturer. The goals have been ambitious from the outset, as Aston Martin wants to compete for the world championship title one day.
That’s why the team from Silverstone has upgraded considerably. Both the personnel and the infrastructure have been expanded, and big names like Adrian Newey, who will join the team in 2025, have been signed to provide Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll with the material they need to keep up with the leaders.
New team boss, more support
In 2023, the team seemed to have made the right adjustments when Alonso was regularly on the podium and able to keep up with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. But there is not much left of this upswing. The team lost ground and fell back in the Formula 1 hierarchy.
Krack was relieved of his duties as team principal in January 2025 and replaced by managing director Andy Cowell. The former string-puller will in future manage the engineers at the race track. He says of Lawrence Stroll’s support: “He is very supportive, especially when you look at the new people that have been brought in.”
“If he thinks, ‘They need more help, more expertise’, then he implements it,” Krack continues. “That’s his character. He wants to succeed and support us. At the same time, he’s impatient, which I understand, but he also knows how difficult it is. He knows there’s no key he can turn and everything will work.”
Formula 1? Complicated!
According to Krack, Stroll has described Formula 1 as the “most complicated project” the businessman has ever tackled. “He wants to push the right buttons, but there are a lot of people involved, it’s a big task,” says Krack. “The competition is fierce and tough. There are no bad teams on the starting grid, and we will see what happens in 2026 when a new racing team joins.”
The upgrades to the car during the season play a particularly important role in success, but not every new idea works out in the end. “If it doesn’t work, you also have to explain why that is,” says Krack. “That’s our situation now, and we have to make the best of it. Lawrence supports us, but he’s also ambitious.”
Even before his role reversal in the team, Krack had taken a self-critical look at the team and its development and hopes that the right conclusions will be drawn. “The field is very close, with only 0.8 to 0.9 seconds separating the drivers in qualifying and in the race. The teams are operating at this level. Details make the difference.” Krack explains how reliable the cars have become and that nuances therefore decide ‘who comes first or second and fifth or sixth’.