Aston Martin boss takes a swipe at Alpine’s ‘100-race plan’

Team principal Mike Krack, has used Alpine's '100-race plan' as an example to drive home his point that Aston Martin take their ambitions 'more seriously'.

Aston Martin boss takes a swipe at Alpine’s ‘100-race plan’

Mike Krack

Racing Point, now known as Aston Martin, finished P4 in the Constructors’ in 2020. In both the seasons since the rebrand, they’ve finished seventh. But for a time, it looked like they would not get anywhere in 2022. Their results improved considerably after the summer break, and they eventually finished level on points with Alfa Romeo – who looked like they had a much better car in Bahrain. The rate of development was definitely very impressive.

Perhaps this was one of the things that convinced Fernando Alonso to ‘take a chance’ on them. The Spaniard wasn’t feeling the love at Alpine, but now with Aston Martin, he’s on a multi-year deal and has even expressed interest in staying in a non-racing role in the future. He will be 42 this year – and still holds hope in his heart that he can notch up the elusive third world title, or at least be more ‘competitive’, with a better car. His last few seasons in the sport haven’t been particularly fruitful.

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So, it was curious that he chose to go with Aston Martin – who didn’t seem to be doing that well. The results stepped up and that is encouraging, but his former team, Alpine, still currently have the best shot to join the fight at the top. So, why Aston Martin, when almost every team has said they aim to start winning races in 3-5 years? Their team principal, Mike Krack, was posed the same question by the Spanish newspaper, AS, and he said: “Because we take it more seriously. Our ambitions are credible.”

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Krack further elaborated: “No one on the grid has made the investments to achieve it. There are teams that say yes, that in three years they will be winning, that in a hundred races they will be winning, but what are they doing to win? With the factory, the wind tunnel, the new simulators, we are serious, there is a huge investment behind it.” the ‘hundred races’ part, is, of course, a swipe at Alpine’s ‘100-race plan’.

Read More: “The real BOSS,” F1 fans express their adoration for Fernando Alonso as he gets to work at Aston Martin

Aston Martin didn’t have to ‘convince’ Fernando Alonso about their project

Mike Krack
Mike Krack

In fact, Aston Martin did not even have to convince Fernando Alonso that they were making progress and ‘acting’ on their words. Currently, they are also building a new factory (which will be ready in May) at their Silverstone base. This should also help them along the way. Then there’s also Alonso’s own involvement in the car – he’s known to lift teams and extract maximum performance.

So, because of the huge investment and their new factory and other facility upgrades, Alonso didn’t even have to be convinced about the team’s project – he already knew: “That’s why Fernando was clear about it so quickly, in fact we didn’t even have to convince him, he already knew it. He has his contacts everywhere. We are credible, we are not just talking, we are acting.”

It remains to be seen just how big of a step forward Aston Martin can take next year, now with Alonso ‘steering’ the ship. Considering their impressive development last season, one will expect them to be more competitive with the ‘upper midfield’ teams. But the gap between the top three and the other teams is too large, and they’re unlikely to be able to consistently challenge them.

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