Aston Martin chief Mike Krack has tried to calm expectations ahead of this weekend’s Formula 1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The performance of the green team was one of the biggest stories from pre-season testing last week, with many pundits suggesting Aston Martin could challenge Mercedes as the third-best team.
Aspirations could be even higher over a full race distance too, with Fernando Alonso claiming his 57-lap simulation on the final day of testing was “slightly faster” than Ferrari’s.
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Krack though isn’t getting carried away by Aston Martin’s apparent potential for a podium challenge at Sakhir.
“You know these dynamics that you can sometimes get, it’s like when word goes around the children at school,” he told the media.
“So I think we need to keep our feet on the ground, expectations are always high at this time of the year, everybody wants to do well.
“We are realists. We have clear objectives: that is to improve compared to where we were last year.”
What a beauty. ?#AMR23 pic.twitter.com/WV0chW6sJw
— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) February 28, 2023
As for keeping expectations in check internally, Krack insists no one within Aston Martin is getting ahead of themselves.
“First of all, it’s a very good and very experienced team. It’s not the first year that we are doing this,” he stated.
“People have learned a lot from last year and we are very humble people, as a team. We are not coming with big words, we have never been.
“So from that point of view. the expectations are let’s try to improve and then we see what is the outcome because you cannot predict it.”
Another unknown ahead of this weekend is who Alonso’s teammate will be in Bahrain.
Reserve driver Felipe Drugovich, who participated in the test, is on standby should Lance Stroll fail to recover from injuries sustained while cycling a few weeks ago.
Aston Martin though is giving the Canadian every chance to be ready, with Stroll reportedly set to travel to Bahrain on Thursday for FIA medical checks.