Mike Krack feels the next two grands prix in Austria and at Silverstone will provide a realistic picture as to how close Aston Martin is to Red Bull.
Following a disappointing Spanish Grand Prix where Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finished sixth and seventh respectively, the latter bounced back at the last race in Canada.
With the AMR23 sporting an upgrade package, Alonso took the chequered flag just under 10 seconds adrift of his fellow two-time F1 champion Max Verstappen, the closest gap to a winning Red Bull this season, with the exception of the Australian GP which finished under safety car conditions.
Around Montréal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve which possesses a number of slow-speed corners, it now remains to be seen whether Aston Martin will prove equally adept at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone where medium- and high-speed turns dominate.
Krack insists he is “not concerned” Aston Martin will revert back to the form shown at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on the basis that “we have seen the latest upgrades seem to work”.
He added: “There are some tracks coming now where you have a lot of high-speed corners, and I think we have improved our car in those.
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“So we’re looking forward to them because at such circuits, I think we will see the true strength of the Red Bull, and then we will have a better indication of how far we are away.”
Unfortunately for Aston Martin, it has now fallen to third in the constructors’ championship in the battle to be best of the rest behind Red Bull as Mercedes has taken a step forward with its own upgrade package.
One reason, however, is the form of Stroll has failed to match that of Alonso, who has scored six podiums – twice runner-up and four times third – whilst the Canadian’s best finish was fourth in Australia.
Krack maintains Stroll “did really well” in the race in Canada in which he was ninth after starting 16th following a disappointing qualifying session after struggling with grip in the mixed conditions, leading to a lack of confidence.
“When he was out of traffic, he managed the lap times of the front runners on the hard tyres,” said Krack.
“But when you are in these DRS trains, it’s really hard. To come from 16th to ninth was a great achievement.
“On paper, when you’re ninth and your team-mate finishes second, you think it’s not a good performance, but from where he came from, it was very good.
“I think he will take the positives, and with the races to come, we know he’s very strong in high-speed circuits, so I’m confident we can score with both.”
Suggested to Krack that qualifying was key, however, to afford Stroll a more advantageous grid slot on a Sunday, he replied: “Absolutely but qualifying is key for everybody.
“We’ve seen with other cars, quick cars, such as with Sergio (Perez), it’s hard to come back to the front.”
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