Aston Martin’s surprise points haul at Zandvoort with its revamped AMR26 may have looked like a breakthrough, but Mike Krack insists the updated car’s encouraging performance was heavily shaped by a circuit that played to its strengths.
After starting a miserable 18th on the grid, Fernando Alonso somehow emerged from the Dutch Grand Prix with two points, using a one-stop strategy to finish ahead of Pierre Gasly.
It was a result that seemed to defy Aston Martin’s qualifying form, but Krack believes the explanation lies as much in the nature of the venue as in any sudden transformation in the team’s fortunes.
Aston Martin’s biggest handicap remains painfully apparent whenever the track opens up.
The AMR26 was among the slowest cars through the speed traps in qualifying, reaching just 309.5km/h at Zandvoort, while Alpine topped the standings at 331.7km/h.
But Zandvoort’s flowing corners and relatively short straights allowed Aston Martin to exploit the strengths of its chassis while limiting the punishment inflicted by its lack of straight-line speed.
‘Tougher races’ on the horizon
Krack acknowledged that the team’s race performance has been more encouraging than its qualifying pace since the Hungarian Grand Prix, but he knows that advantage is unlikely to survive the next phase of the calendar.
“Since Budapest we know that we’re a bit stronger in the race,” Krack said. “I think Fernando said today our result will depend more or less on how long the straights are.
“So these were now two races where the straights were a bit on the short side. So we will have tougher races to come, but I think that this is part of the game.
“You have races where you’re strong, and you have races where you’re less strong. So it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes.”
That warning could hardly come at a worse time. With Monza and Baku next on the agenda, Aston Martin is heading towards two circuits where top speed is at a premium and its current weakness could be exposed mercilessly.
New package a work in progress
The bigger question, however, is how fast the team can unlock more from the substantial package introduced at Budapest.
Aston Martin has now combined its revamped chassis with Honda’s long-awaited power unit upgrade, yet Krack insists the team is still learning how to extract the maximum from both developments.
“We get to know this package more and more,” Krack said.
“With the large package that we introduced in Budapest, it will take some sessions to learn how to deal with it and to learn how to set it up. And the same goes actually also for the introduction of the power unit now.
“We need to learn how to use it, we need to learn how to optimise it, and I think it’s going to take us a couple of events, but it was a good step forward.
That admission puts Alonso’s ninth place into sharper perspective. Aston Martin may have finally found some useful performance, but Zandvoort was not necessarily proof that the team has solved its problems.
The encouraging radio messages from Alonso and Lance Stroll nevertheless suggested that the drivers were beginning to feel the benefits of the new machinery. Krack believes that, too, is part of a learning curve that will take time to complete.
“It goes along with what I said in terms of trying to understand the package. If you have changes at this large scale, with the intensity of the sessions, it’s always difficult to get the maximum out of it all the time. And the more sessions we get, the more we will get it under control,” he concluded.
“But there will always be sessions where you will have a bit more difficulties, some others where it will be easier, and we had quite a good configuration this weekend.”
For Aston Martin, then, Zandvoort offered both encouragement and a reality check.
The AMR26 is clearly capable of delivering more than its recent results have suggested – but until the team fully understands its new package, and until the car’s straight-line deficit is addressed, one promising Sunday is hardly enough to declare the corner turned.
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