Aston Martin must not wait for the arrival of Adrian Newey to progress
Mike Krack, the director of Aston Martin, was keen to reignite the flame within the team which is experiencing difficulties this season. For the Luxembourger, it cannot wait until 2025 and the arrival of Adrian Newey to improve, but must be able to do so now.
This is definitely not the season that Aston Martin had dreamed of. Arriving in Bahrain for the opening round, the British team was full of ambitions after a successful 2023 season, with eight podium finishes thanks to Fernando Alonso. Lawrence Stroll had indeed invested heavily in new infrastructure that was supposed to allow the team to continue its momentum and fight at the front. Very quickly, their ambitions proved to be unattainable given the significant gap with the top four teams, a gap that only widened throughout the season, notably due to updates that did not benefit the Silverstone-based team.
A rhythm that has declined over the course of the races
At Imola, Aston Martin had decided to introduce a whole series of upgrades including a revision of the floor, front wing, diffuser, and engine cover. Innovations that were supposed to help the team bounce back after a lackluster start to the season. However, the results have not been as expected, and the car has not progressed enough compared to other teams. Consequently, it is only in fifth place in the constructors’ standings, far behind Mercedes. Even worse, depending on the circuits, the car seems to be slower than Haas or Williams, as in Baku or Singapore, where it took two perfectly optimized races by its star driver Fernando Alonso to score points.
Aston Martin must evolve without waiting for Newey according to Mike Krack
For Mike Krack, Aston Martin’s director, the recent results should not mask the fact that the team needs to improve right away to catch up with the top teams. The Luxembourger insists: we must not wait for the new recruits, like Adrian Newey, who will join the green team at the beginning of next season, to move the project forward, even though the British engineer will undoubtedly be a huge asset.
« We must ensure that the positive results we are accumulating do not conceal the facts, namely that we need to improve or that we are not where we want to be. This is essential as a team because from the outside, you see us scoring and gaining points, but the four teams ahead of us still score three or four times more points per race, and that’s what matters in the end. »
Asked about the difficulty of managing the excitement about Adrian Newey’s arrival and staying the course of the 2026 project in the face of current challenges, Mike Krack replied: « Very difficult. Absolutely ». He also took the opportunity to warn his team not to rest on their laurels and showed Newey that the team is capable of evolving. « I think we should also use 2025 as an opportunity to show Adrian what we can do. This should motivate all of us. »
Furthermore, Newey will not be able to arrive before March 2025 due to his gardening leave period at Red Bull, which forces Aston Martin to manage without him to design its car for the next year. The Luxembourger believes that the staff cannot wait for his arrival in a context where performances evolve very quickly in F1, and where a delay in development is then very difficult to catch up during the season.
« If I identify this, it won’t last long »,” said Mike Krack to the media, including Autosport. The Aston Martin team principal reflected on the performances since the start of the season. He claims that the objectives have not been met this season and that the team will have to be able to do better in the upcoming events.
« I think we are not where we want to be. Our goal was clearly to close the gap with the top four teams. At the beginning of the season, we knew we were roughly the fifth fastest team at the time, and the goal was to reduce this gap. We have not succeeded in doing so. The others have caught up more than we have closed the gap. This is the reality, and it is something we need to understand and correct.
More conclusive results lately
Despite everything, the British team has just achieved two convincing weekends in Baku and Singapore, where it managed to accumulate twelve points thanks to Fernando Alonso. Results and a rediscovered driver that boost the team’s confidence as it still has six races to go. Aston Martin must be able to progress during this period before welcoming Adrian Newey, a personality who will undoubtedly bring a new momentum to a struggling team.
