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Aston Martin braces for negative impact with 'difficult' Alonso

Aston Martin braces for negative impact with 'difficult' Alonso

20-09-2022 08:24 Last update: 08:33
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GPblog.com

Mike Krack fully understands that the pressure at Aston Martin will only increase further with the arrival of Fernando Alonso. However, the team boss also sees an opportunity to learn from this as a team.

Alonso's arrival

Aston Martin saw Sebastian Vettel announce his departure from Formula 1, but acted quickly in bringing in his replacement. Alonso was enticed by the team to make the switch from Alpine, despite the French racing stable wanting to keep its star driver and currently having a much better car.

Alonso is a demanding driver who will not settle for the current ninth place the British formation occupies in the constructors' standings. ''It will be challenging for us. The downside could be that if the car we deliver is just not good enough, then we know it gets difficult. But it gets difficult with every driver if the car is not fast enough,'' said Krack at the BBC.

Working with F1 world champions

The Luxembourger therefore sees it mainly as a positive thing that the two-time world champion wants to come to his team. He says it is very important for Aston Martin to bring in someone like Alonso to be able to take the next step as a team.

''You need to learn to manage champions, which we already did with Sebastian. Because these drivers are very demanding, they are quite difficult to manage. I would not even say Sebastian is that difficult to manage if you are transparent, honest and straight. And I think the same goes for Fernando.''

Aston Martin hoped to find its way up under Lawrence Stroll's leadership, but the former Racing Point/Force India is sinking further into the constructors' standings every year. So, with rules remaining the same through 2025, it remains to be seen how quickly the team can take steps forward. However, Alonso will find that out soon enough.