Fernando Alonso makes F1 demand as Aston Martin warn 'we have to be careful'

14 July 2023 , 05:00

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Fernando Alonso wants to keep focus on the job at hand (Image: PA)

Mike Krack insists his Aston Martin team haven't slipped behind its Formula 1 rivals – as Fernando Alonso asked his colleagues not to lose focus amid the sudden rise of his old team McLaren.

Alonso began the season with five podiums from six races. It was an eye-catching run, given his new employers were in the bottom half of the constructors' standings last year.

But they have made great strides in terms of car performance. Now, they are one of the many teams fighting for second place in the standings, behind runaway leaders and inevitable champions Red Bull.

However, things have been more difficult in recent weeks. A second-placed finish in Canada aside, podiums have been more elusive for Alonso, while team-mate Lance Stroll finished outside the points at last weekend's British Grand Prix.

Mercedes and Ferrari have been rivals all season, while McLaren have now also emerged as a podium contender. Lando Norris finished second at Silverstone and team-mate Oscar Piastri would have done had it not been for a safety car period which was poorly-timed from his perspective.

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Regarding his old team, Alonso said after the race: "They are very fast but they are a lot of points behind, so we should have enough space to keep the distance to them. It is not that they will always be in the points, we are dividing all the points between us so it is difficult to have a big run on anyone.

"With McLaren, in the constructors', we have enough of an advantage but obviously, we need to keep an eye. On Mercedes and Ferrari, it is going to be tight until the end."

Mike Krack gave a measured response to suggestions of underachievement in recent races (AP)

Team boss Krack agreed with his driver's tone as he warned against making any rash judgements. "It confirms what I have always been saying – we have to be careful of defining a pecking order too quickly," the Luxembourger told reporters, including Mirror Sport.

"We have this swing up and down. In Austria, for example, Mercedes were quite down but in Barcelona they were very strong. We were very strong in Canada, which was not long ago, when we were fighting for the podium.

"That is why I always say we need to wait for two, three, four tracks to be really sure of what the pecking order is. I think we should maintain that [approach]."

Aston Martin's expectations have raised somewhat in recent months, given how they started the season. Regardless, though, Krack dismissed any suggestions that his team is underperforming given the baseline set by themselves in the first few rounds of this season.

He added: "This season is already a very respectable one, if you see where we came from. We have six podiums in 10 races and even if it was six in 22, it would still be a respectable season compared to where we came from and what our targets for the season were. But we will not give up.

"We need to not get deviated too much by single events and wait for three or four races to see where we are, over a rolling average. Before the [summer] shutdown we will then have a better representation of where we are and this will also allow us to define, from the raised expectations, where we have to go.

"We also have to consider that we have a lot of races coming with track that have very different characteristics to the previous ones. The calendar is such that you have the lower downforce races in the beginning and there are races to come where maybe we can be better. These are all things we have to see based on the analysis of the next three."

Daniel Moxon