Aston Martin boss explains F1 progress despite operational cracks showing in Canada

Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack believes the team has "come a long way" but lamented the operational errors that limited progress at the Canadian Grand Prix. 

Aston Martin has found itself at the rear of the Formula 1 grid, after making a dreadful start to a season that was hoped to herald an era of success. 

While reliability and performance have caused significant problems this term, the operational side of things has generally been a positive, with the team tested with rapid rebuild tasks on more than one occasion; it was this area that came under the microscope in Canada. 

Asked how the post-race debrief had gone, Krack told media, including Crash.net: “Not so nice, as you can imagine. Obviously, one is independent of the other. So you can have, you know, like the car performance is not where we want it to be, but that is independent of getting your act together.

“We have done better in the past and we will do better in the future, but we had a few glitches this weekend that we need to get better at. You mentioned the wheel cover that Lance lost and we had also to start from the pit lane in the sprint race. That is obviously not ideal and we will have to regroup and work these issues to not happen again.”

Krack's comments echoed those of Sergio Perez at Cadillac, the only other team without a point so far this term, who complained about the continuing operational issues suffered by F1's newest outfit.

Aston Martin has repeatedly stated that it does not expect a dramatic upturn in performance until a major upgrade package is introduced at some point around the summer break. 

Despite this, Krack was able to see glimmers of improvement at the weekend, with Alonso running inside the top 10 in the early stages. 

"From a pure performance point of view, I think we were where we expected to be, you know," he reflected.

“At the beginning of the race, you know, with a couple of good calls, you find yourself in positions where you don't start to hope quickly. You know, it's always like that. I think Fernando was running 10th at one point and Lance was running 14th, starting from the pit lane, so, everything looks a bit flattering

“But the reality kicks in also quickly and you have to always remind yourself, you know, where did we expect ourselves to be. Because in F1, you normally end where you belong, unless there is a complete chaotic race. When we saw people going out or more attrition, we thought, OK, let's keep going.

“You know, you never know in Canada what's happening next. But then there was not more after that, so I think at the end of the day, from a reliability point of view, aside to the operational stuff that we mentioned earlier, I think, you know, on the PU side, there was not a single issue, not a single fault. So, I think we have come a long way, but the performance is not where it should be.”