Fernando Alonso struggled with blunt weapons in Singapore, ranting about his car on the radio – Understandable for team boss Mike Krack
Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack is sympathetic to Fernando Alonso describing his AMR23 as “undriveable” during the Singapore Grand Prix. The Spaniard only finished 15th on Sunday and remained without points for the first time.
“As a team we have to acknowledge when a driver is critical,” Krack said of Alonso’s frustration on the radio. “Obviously the car is not giving the performance he expects and is used to, and then I think that’s fine.”
“We want them to give everything and then it’s normal that athletes also react like that. So it’s not a problem,” Krack takes his driver in his stride.
Krack: Stint on medium “pretty solid “
At the beginning of the race, things were not so bad. Alonso was in sixth place. “We thought we had a good rhythm,” said Krack. “We knew beforehand that it would be difficult to keep up with the guys in front. But everything was going pretty solid on the medium tyre.”
“After the safety car period we then put on the hard tyres and struggled a bit more. When the virtual safety car came, we weren’t sure if we could go the full distance with a decent level of performance.”
“We decided to change and then one thing led to another, the penalty, the pit stop went wrong so we came out in a really bad position,” explained the Aston Martin team boss. He plays down Alonso’s pit entry mishap, which triggered the five-second penalty.
A lot of things went wrong at the pits
“We have to check this. Because there are some adjustments that need to be made, if he was reminded to make them as well. So I will be cautious about calling it a mistake until we analyse that.”
On the pit stop delay, Krack said, “Obviously we had the penalty to serve. And then we have to look at what exactly happened with the jacks in the front and in the back, which sequence was earlier, and then you can’t get the tyres off. Panic sets in and you have to react quickly. “
But mistakes aside, Aston Martin had generally expected more from Singapore, especially as Alonso had looked strong on the long runs on Friday.
Aston Martin: The main thing is Stroll is fine
Krack admits the team first needs to review what went wrong over the course of the weekend. “We really need to understand what happened. We also have a little damage on the car, on an aero part, which we need to understand how much it caused. We saw it during the pit stop.”
Beyond that, the team boss stresses the peculiarities of Singapore. “It’s a place where you’re always in traffic, which always affects a lot. You don’t know how much the others are sparing and managing. In that respect, the race is difficult to understand.”
But what matters most to Aston Martin after this weekend, he said, is that Lance Stroll is doing well. He sat out as a precaution after his qualifying crash on Saturday.
“I think the most important thing for us is that Lance is okay,” Krack stressed. “The bigger blow would have been if he had sustained an injury or something like that. So the points are secondary. And that’s why we’re looking forward to Japan. “
