Mike Krack: “Fernando Alonso's contribution to Aston Martin has been extraordinary”

MADRID, 23 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The director of the Aston Martin team, Mike Krack, has assured that the contribution of the Spanish driver Fernando Alonso to the team last season was “extraordinary”, and has highlighted his “experience and commitment”, emphasizing that “he is not one of those drivers who “He shows up on race weekend, does his thing and then disappears.”

“What Fernando has given us is simply extraordinary. He drives us and makes us better, it's that simple. He is tremendously ambitious and wants to fight for podiums every weekend,” he said in an interview on the team's website.

In this sense, he stressed the “commitment” and the help he offers to all Aston Martin components. “The experience he brings is priceless, but so is the commitment. He is not one of those drivers who shows up on the race weekend, does his thing and then disappears. There is always another question, another WhatsApp message that rings, constantly looking for things that we can improve,” he said.

“Having him hanging around behind you provides all the motivation anyone could need. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in 2024 now that he's had a year to fully integrate into Aston Martin,” he added.

On the other hand, Krack took stock of last season. “The first six races were incredible, but I knew there would be difficult moments. We were realistic and tried to manage expectations. The competition in Formula 1 is fierce; very good teams that did not start the season well would inevitably take care of their problems and “They would fight with us. We knew it would be more difficult,” he said.

Thus, he explained that the second half of the year was more complicated. “But perhaps it seemed more so because of the start we had. The levels of expectations increased dramatically. Imagine if our season had not started with six podiums in the first eight Grands Prix, but had started with one! If you get 23 points in the first race, it is understandable that the level of expectations increases,” he said.

“At the end of the season we understood the car, but it would be a mistake to say that we understood absolutely everything about the AMR23. We have understood many things, we know what we want to do for 2024 and the direction we should take with next year's car, but that doesn't necessarily means that we will fight to win the race at the first Bahrain Grand Prix next year,” he continued.