Fernando Alonso of the Aston Martin F1 Team AMR24 competed in the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2, 2024, as part of the Formula 1 World Championship. Aston Martin Team Principal, Mike Krack, has expressed the team’s goal of emulating the top teams in Formula 1 by continuously introducing updates to address any weaknesses. While the team initially showed promise last season, their performance declined once the development race began. Aston Martin’s primary objective for their 2024 challenger was to establish a solid foundation that could be enhanced throughout the season. Despite Alonso’s impressive sixth place qualification in Bahrain, he dropped to ninth during the race, while Lance Stroll managed to recover from last place to score a single point. Krack has hinted at “promising” upgrades in the pipeline and has now confirmed that the team will introduce minor new components in Saudi Arabia this weekend. He acknowledges the progress being made in development and expresses confidence in the team’s prospects. Krack expects some small improvements to the car for the upcoming race in Jeddah and hopes that Alonso can deliver another exceptional lap like he did in qualifying. This would aid the team in moving further up the grid. Krack emphasizes the need for caution regarding the potential lap time gains from the upgrades, but affirms Aston Martin’s aggressive approach to development in 2024. He acknowledges that all teams constantly modify and optimize their cars, particularly the top teams who strive to eliminate weaknesses as quickly as possible. Aston Martin is committed to doing the same.
Krack reiterated Alonso’s statements that Aston Martin was not dissatisfied with their ninth and tenth place finishes in Bahrain, as he believes the team has a strong foundation to build upon. According to Krack, the team’s goal from the beginning was to score points with both cars, and they achieved that objective. However, they would have liked to earn more points. Krack emphasized that it is still early in the season and they have been working on finding the right balance for both short and long runs. Overall, he considers their performance to be a solid starting point.
The Aston Martin boss also acknowledged that their impressive start in the previous season was partly due to Ferrari and Mercedes struggling with their car designs. He pointed out that their podium finishes were more of a result of rankings rather than pure pace. While they benefited from the circumstances, Krack believes that objectively evaluating their performance shows that they were not performing exceptionally well at the time and were still quite far behind.
Despite Red Bull’s dominant performance in the latest race, Krack believes it would be premature to declare them as the champions at this early stage of the season. With a record-breaking 24-round calendar, he believes there is ample opportunity for other teams to reduce the deficit and make significant developments. Krack emphasized that it is too early to switch off the TV and that every team will push as hard as they can. He expects other teams, including McLaren and Mercedes, to be their immediate competition and the first gap they aim to close.