Aston Martin’s Mike Krack defends his team’s protests against the FIA for discrepancy at Austrian GP
Aston Martin boss Mike Krack says the team comes first and this the Protests are justified and his driver's benefitted from it.
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Mike Krack
It was revealed shortly after the race on Sunday that Aston Martin had started a protest over the event’s final classification.The FIA declared that eight drivers will face further fines for breaking track regulations five hours after the checkered flag.Fernando Alonso rose from sixth to fifth as a result of the penalties, while Lance Stroll also advanced one spot. Krack justified his team’s protest in a statement to Sky Sports, saying that it was in the best interests of the sport.
“We’re not afraid to upset people if it’s for the cause of the sport and also for our own advantage,” Fernando Alonso said. “We knew that this was going to create a little bit of turmoil if we do that but at the end of the day we have to do what it’s right for the team in the first place and that’s why we decided we had to launch the protest.” Fernando Alonso and Stroll were two of the 10 drivers not to pick up a penalty on Sunday. Mike Krack is confident teams will learn from the events of this year when F1 returns to Austria in 2024.
Krack said he thinks that the team learned their lesson last year to be honest. And they had penalties last year. He said his drivers ears were bleeding because the team told them not to exceed limits because the penalties would come. He said they must also keep in mind 10 drivers had no penalties so it was possible to stay within the limits.
Related: Christian Horner reveals that Lewis Hamilton was ‘very keen’ on joining Red Bull in the early 2010s
Aston Martin might have a difficult period ahead
Fernando Alonso has placed third in six of his first eight outings in green for the Silverstone-based team, making them one of the great success stories of the 2023 season. But following a poor showing at the Spanish Grand Prix last month, where teammate Lance Stroll edged out Alonso for sixth place, the Aston Martins were strangely quiet for the second time in three races in Austria. Former Williams driver Jack Aitken worries that following Charles Leclerc’s second podium finish of 2023, Aston Martin’s time is gone. Ferrari is now the dominating Red Bull team’s closest rival, having introduced a significant improvement package in Barcelona.
Before the Miami Grand Prix in May, Alonso believed slower tracks like Monaco, Hungary, and Singapore offered Aston Martin its greatest chances of winning a race that year. Given that the Hungarian Grand Prix comes later this month at the same venue where Alonso narrowly beat Verstappen in Monaco two decades ago, he will probably enjoy it.
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Riddhi Mondal
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