The 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix witnessed one of the greatest Formula 1 twists in recent years as Aston Martin, shockingly, produced a near-race-winning performance with Fernando Alonso. The Silverstone-based outfit looked absolutely unstoppable over succeeding race weekends as they continued to pile on podiums and a race victory seemed almost inevitable.
But, then arrived the bitter reality check for Lawrence Stroll and Co.! A brutal development race featuring the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren caught Aston Martin off-guard. Subsequently, from being hailed as the second-best team on the grid, Aston Martin found themselves being graded as a mere mid-field outfit; the downfall was immensely demoralizing.
Alonso’s hopes of winning a race disappeared in a jiff. What’s worse, the massively hyped AMR23 no longer looked powerful enough to finish in the top 10. But, we’re at the business end of 2023 and a complete restart awaits the entire grid. Hence, one might assume that Aston Martin have learned their lesson by now and are probably busy chasing yet another power-packed start to 2024.
But, quite unfortunately, Aston Martin F1 team principal Mike Krack isn’t too keen on getting ahead of himself at the moment. The ex-BMW boss admitted that a repeat of 2023 is highly unlikely and a race victory, too, could be a bit too far-fetched for the Aramco-backed outfit.
Mike Krack’s latest opinion could leave Fernando Alonso frustrated
Krack openly acknowledged failing to understand everything about the complicated AMR23. Hence, the Luxembourg-born engineer isn’t too hopeful of imprinting the success of 2023 over the forthcoming season. “We did understand the car by the end of the season. But it would be wrong to say we understood absolutely everything about the AMR23,” he said according to Formu1a.uno.
🚨 | Aston Martin’s 2024 expectations:
“We understood a great deal. We know what we want to do for 2024…
“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll turn up in Bahrain and fight for the win.”https://t.co/pHHJ3BGUij
— formularacers (@formularacers_) December 12, 2023
“We understood a great deal. We know what we want to do for 2024 and the direction we need to go in with next year’s car. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to turn up at the season opener in Bahrain next year and be fighting for the race win,” the Aston Martin boss concluded.
This is definitely not what Alonso would have wanted to hear. The 42-year-old is running out of time and his biggest F1 wish yet could well remain unfulfilled. Hence, can the Silverstone-based outfit spur something magical and gift the Spanish superstar with a race victory next season? Or, even better, a third world championship title? Well, let’s see what the future holds for the former Ferrari legend.