Krak: We still managed to collect useful information

After Friday’s practice sessions at the Mexican circuit, Aston Martin team boss Mike Krak tried to explain the surprisingly low results of his drivers: Lance Stroll was in 18th place according to protocol and Fernando Alonso was in last place.

Mike Krak: “The start of the session went well, but when we switched to soft tires we could no longer get the lap together. Fernando spun into Turn 8 and Lance’s car had a problem: it took us a long time to get the left front wheel off.

Then we were not prepared for the deteriorating weather: when it started to rain, we were on the track on fresh, soft tires and unfortunately we could not complete a single normal lap.

But when we just went to Mexico City, where the circuit is high above sea level, we understood that we had to adapt to some characteristics here. There is less downforce here than at Monza, although the cars have larger wings.

Racers have to get used to this, and the asphalt surface is very slippery, and here we work with the softest rubber compounds. However, everyone is on equal footing. But we still managed to collect useful information and conduct some experiments – this was the case both during the first and second sessions. Based on the data we have received, the picture is more or less encouraging.

We try to eliminate all weaknesses of the machine that affect its efficiency; this is exactly what the latest innovations we have introduced are aimed at. We will have some minor updates before the end of the year, but the main goal is to get to grips with the version of AMR23 we have now.”