Mike Krack has conceded to his team asking the question internally as to why Aston Martin has lost its way this season.
From finishing in seventh position in last season’s constructors’ championship, Aston Martin came flying out of the blocks this year with its AMR23 in which Fernando Alonso scored six podiums in the first eight races.
Alonso’s form was enough to keep the team in second place in the standings over the first phase of a season in which it has steadily fallen down the pecking order to fifth with four races remaining.
Krack concedes Aston Martin has been out-developed by its rivals, notably McLaren, resulting in an examination to ensure there is no repeat going forward.
Asked whether he felt his team has lost its way a little, speaking to Sky Sports F1, he replied: “That’s a good question, and this is a question we ask ourselves as well.
“Last year we started with a poor-performing car and we improved it along the season, like some others do now.
“This year, it was the opposite. We started very well and we have not managed to keep that pace over the year.
“In the development race, if you have a good-performing car, it is more and more difficult, obviously, to improve it.
“But we have to be honest with ourselves. We have been out-developed by some, and we need to do a better job there in the future, in terms of the speed of development, speed of manufacture, and understanding.”
That understanding has continued heading into this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, with the team able to further assess its latest upgrade package that was introduced a week ago ahead of the race in the United States.
The fact it was a sprint weekend, and the difficult sole practice session in which Lance Stroll only managed a handful of push laps before sustaining a brake issue, put the team onto the backfoot.
It was forced to break parc fermé and make setup changes to both cars, leading to pitlane starts for Alonso and Stroll, with the latter ending a five-race drought without points by finishing seventh.
Krack has confirmed the team is continuing to learn about its upgrades, conducting high-fuel long runs across Friday practice for the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which resulted in Stroll and Alonso a lowly 18th and 20th respectively at the end of FP2.
Allaying concerns, Krack said: “We did some experiments, and it was actually quite encouraging. Obviously, when you are finishing on the board like this, nobody’s happy. But it is not a true reflection.”
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