Krak: We expected the speeds to be a little higher

Aston Martin F1 team principal Mike Krak commented on the results of Friday’s practice in Shanghai, at the end of which Lance Stroll posted the best time, but made it clear that the significance of this result should not be exaggerated.

Mike Krak: “During the only training session in Shanghai, the main task had to be solved: checking whether the car was ready for sprint qualifying, so our drivers worked on different programs so that we could collect as much information as possible.

I think everyone was lucky that the red flags appeared at a time when everyone had already acquired a basic understanding of the condition of the track, and the races were not interrupted for a long time, so it did not cause any special problems. Overall everything went as we planned. Now we have to analyze all the information collected and try to prepare as best as possible for qualifying, which determines the starting order in Saturday’s short race.

Judging from the lap times, the grip is still quite low – we expected the speeds to be a little higher. It looks like the surface will continue to improve throughout today’s qualifying session and it will be interesting to watch. This circumstance introduces another variable: we will probably have to start doing fast laps a little later or wait for a favorable traffic situation, but I foresee that we will have an interesting session.

During training, the teams solved various problems, so they used tires of all compositions. At the same time, the teams figured out who they expected to battle on the track, figured out which tires they would use during qualifying and racing, and then decided which tires to put on the cars in practice. But I agree that it’s quite interesting that we see such a variety of options.

Lance showed the best time of the session, but it is still too early to draw conclusions as he simply came onto the track quite late, taking advantage of the fact that the surface conditions had clearly improved. I’ll be surprised if he stays in the same position at the end of qualifying, but if your driver rises to the first line of the protocol, that’s always a good thing, because it gives extra motivation and increases the fighting spirit.

We accept this result, but remain realistic.”

Mike Krak also commented on one of the most important news from the week before: the extension of the contract with Fernando Alonso. “In fact there were no problems with this,” he emphasized. – We started negotiations at the end of last year, and everything initially depended on the fundamental decision: to continue our cooperation or not. But once this decision was made, everything went quite smoothly. And when we agreed on everything, we decided to announce it immediately. This is good for the team and for all of us. The extension of the contract with Fernando shows that he believes in our team and its prospects, because from 2026 we will work with Honda.

The modernization of Aston Martin’s infrastructure continues, a new wind tunnel will be completed this year – overall we have everything we need to achieve success, and Fernando believes in this – he believes that together we can achieve a lot.”