Aston Martin has "great hopes" of fighting for Monaco F1 win

Fernando Alonso has logged four third places so far in 2023, but the Spaniard has not been able to get on terms with the dominant Red Bull team.

However, it is believed the high-downforce package required for Monaco will play to the strengths of the AMR23, and that the green cars will be in a position to challenge at the front.

"Yes," said Krack when asked if the team was racing for a win this weekend.

"It would be nice to say yes and do it. We all have great hopes here for Monaco with our two drivers, we have a great car. In the simulator, they were all quite excited.

"But we must not forget the competition. It is true that there are not so many straights here.

"It's also true that we have not seen a Red Bull or Ferrari or Mercedes in high downforce configuration, because we did not have a maximum downforce track so far.

"So I think it would be easy to say, 'Ah we going to be easily at the front.' I don't think it will be that easy. I think we will have to be 100% at all times."

Asked if Monaco was the team's best chance thus far this year, he said: "There are so many things that can go wrong on our side, on anyone's side. So I think we need to respect first of all, how tough the competition is in F1, how high level our opponents or competitors are here.

"Twelve months ago, we would not speak about winning in Monaco. So I think we need never forget where we've come from and keep our heads down and work hard, and then see where we ended up.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23

Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images

"Making predictions, it's easy, but then failing on your predictions can happen very quickly. So we have seen that we've tried to do it the other way around."

"And I think we need to look at the stars, but keep our feet down and work hard. And we have to be 100% minimum to achieve a good result this weekend.

"If it is better than the three podiums we had already we would love to take it, but it will be difficult."

Krack also confirmed that some elements of the planned Imola upgrade package would be on the cars in Monaco, but others have been postponed to the next race in Spain.

"It's split a little bit," he said. "The Imola upgrades, the ones that make sense, we kept on the car for here.

"There were one or two bits that we (will) bring to Barcelona because it makes no sense to bring them here. But it's a split approach.

"So we will have some updates here, we will have some updates in Barcelona. And we will have some more to come after that."