How Do Aston Martin Plan To Find Their Way Back To Form?

Strange and utterly unpredictable are the ways of Formula 1. Truth be told, there are moments in which a team seems utterly unbeatable and then, rather absurdly, the very team that had been on a winning charge loses form and hardly looks the part of a winner (which it had been all this while).

Where the current context of the F1 world championship stands, then it appears that the above perhaps ably befits the fortunes of a certain Aston Martin team. The noted British Constructor had famously signed up Fernando Alonso for 2023, not only the oldest driver of the current grid, but a worthy double world champion who happens to be the most experienced driver.

And quite frankly, the results were there to see. It didn’t take long for Aston Martin to take up the fight to F1’s top dog Red Bull; the Alonso versus Verstappen saga as seen in the lion’s share of the first half of the season was a sizzling affair and truth be told, a refreshing new rivalry in the aftermath of the Verstappen versus Hamilton affair.

The great Alonso wasn’t backing out from going for it on any track and Verstappen, nearly faultless and incessantly consistent, had to push and push.

Even as Red Bull won all the races back then, something that hasn’t even remotely changed as on date, Aston Martin, it wasn’t hard to see, weren’t too far back or off points.

Against this narrative, it’s worthwhile to refresh one’s memory to be reminded of the fact that of the first eight races of the season, Aston Martin powered by a capable machine and Alonso’s brilliance captured six podiums.

Just who saw that coming?

Except post Canada, the form of the British stable veered off into the unknown. Even as Fernando Alonso-not Lance Stroll- has managed a finish inside the top ten in each of the events held at Austria, Great Britain, Hungary and latently, Belgium, there are no more podiums.

It’s precisely the thing that Mike Krack wishes to change and with the F1 season in full holiday mood, he would reveal what the plan of the strong racing outfit is to bounce back:

“After lots of analysis in the aftermath of Budapest we understand the changes we need to make!”

But that told, the biggest loss endured by the Mike Krack-led team in the aftermath of its loss of form is that the second place slot on the Constructor Standings hitherto owned by Aston Martin went to Mercedes, who made strong progress especially where the past few Grands Prix are concerned.

Krack would lament the lost chance and exclaim, “We’ve improved less than the others so now it’s up to us to improve more than them (Mercedes).”

Having said that, what are the plans to bounce back and once again mount a strong challenge to Red Bull even as the Milton Keynes outfit appears simply invincible?

Krack would further add, “We’ve lost small amounts compared to our competitors and as an engineer, that makes you disappointed, but it’s the qualifying and finishing positions that give the perception that we’ve dropped back massively when in reality we haven’t. We’re constantly pushing the development, and these cars are so complex that any change will impact other areas of the car – there are side-effects. Very few changes you make to the car work in isolation.”