Fernando Alonso, from Spain, racing for the Aston Martin F1 Team AMR24. May 17, 2024. Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Imola, Italy, Practice Day.
Aston Martin team principal, Mike Krack, acknowledged that the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix indicated that recent Formula 1 team updates may have made their car more challenging to drive.
The Silverstone-based team had pinned their hopes on a significant upgrade package, which included a new floor, to avoid falling further behind the leading teams. However, Aston Martin’s progress was hampered by successful McLaren updates in Miami, as well as developments introduced by Ferrari and Mercedes.
Aston Martin’s chances were further hindered when Fernando Alonso had an accident during FP1 at Rivazza and subsequently had another incident in Q1 that resulted in an early exit. Alonso started the race from the pit lane as he conducted a configuration change test on his AMR24, while Lance Stroll managed to secure a ninth-place finish after starting 13th on the grid.
Krack believes that Alonso’s rare mistakes at the beginning of the weekend indicated that the improved Aston Martin car now requires more skill to drive. He stated: «At Imola, when you start from where we started, it’s difficult. We came out with two points, which I believe is a positive result and shows that the car still has potential. However, we also noticed that it is challenging to drive. We had some incidents throughout the weekend. Yesterday’s had the biggest impact on us, as it put us at a disadvantage from that moment on. We wanted to learn more, so we chose to start from the boxes and make a change to the car to see if we could make it more manageable. Our goal was to have a better performance than what we achieved, but our efforts were also compromised by the events on Saturday.»
Stroll, who received the latest updates during the second practice session, expressed dissatisfaction with the modifications made by Aston Martin, stating that they were not enough to keep up with their competitors. With Red Bull’s sister team, RB, once again outperforming Aston Martin at Imola, Krack emphasized the need for the team to accelerate its development.
«We are not satisfied with just two points, that is clear,» Krack added. «However, other teams are also introducing updates, so it is always a relative competition. It is a tough challenge, and we should not underestimate it. With the exception of one team, everyone has a long list of updates, which demonstrates the high level of competitiveness across the grid. We have to keep moving forward and bring more improvements.»
