Krack: Too early to draw conclusions on Aston form

Krack conceded that the Silverstone team was encouraged by the strong form shown across the first three tracks on the schedule, but insisted that small margins will make a difference from weekend to weekend.

Fernando Alonso took his third straight third place of the season in Melbourne, but the Spaniard was beaten to the flag by a car other than a Red Bull for the first time, with Lewis Hamilton taking second for Mercedes.

Lance Stroll, meanwhile, spent much of the race chasing the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, eventually claiming fourth after the former retired and the latter was penalised.

Over one lap in qualifying, Aston was beaten by Ferrari at the first two venues and by Mercedes at the third. But on balance the team had the second or third fastest car throughout the campaign so far, reflecting the huge step made since last season.

“That is definitely true, three circuits with three different characteristics,” said Krack when asked by Autosport if being competitive across three tracks was encouraging.

“To be competitive at all three obviously means we are as confident as we can be at other circuits.

“The range of circuits is very different. We have Baku with huge straights and then you have Monaco with no straights, so all these kinds of things will always shift the field left and right.

“And this is why I am always saying we must be careful now to draw too many conclusions from one race event.

“Also when you saw [in Melbourne] the race strategy and how it played out then you just had to manage, you do not even get a representation of the pace, that’s why I am always very careful to be too firm in my conclusions.”

Mike Krack, Team Principal, Aston Martin F1 Team, chats with Andreas Seidl, CEO, Sauber Group

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Krack acknowledged that losing out to Mercedes for the first time in both qualifying and the race in Melbourne showed that the team was right to be a little cautious.

“This is also something when I say we need to wait a couple of races,” he said. “You cannot say after one race you are here or there. You need more data samples to really understand where you are.

“You saw in Bahrain we were very competitive against many teams. In Jeddah it was OK, and here [in Melbourne] we had a proper fight.

“So if you look at all the data or take all the data and look where you are, again you will find that the margins are very close.”

Stroll meanwhile admitted that the team wasn’t as strong in Australia relative to rivals as it had been in the opening two races.

“I don't think we were quite as quick today as we were at the first couple of races,” said the Canadian.

“Alpine was actually pretty quick here in front of me, and then Carlos had a strong race. I don't think we had the edge on the competitors today. But yeah, still we were solid all weekend, and it was a good result.”

Speaking before the Melbourne race Stroll admitted that expectations in the camp are now much higher after the strong start to the season.

“Yeah for sure,” he said. “That's the nature of the sport when you have a car that's able to finish on the podium and get in the top five.

“Last year, we were, let's say, satisfied with eighth/ninth. This year that's not so satisfying. It's just the nature of the game: the car gets better, you want to get more out of it and finish higher up. So that's the goal now. We're fighting for good positions this year and the car feels great.”

On a personal level, Stroll admitted that he is still getting up to speed after he was injured in a pre-season cycling accident and missed the Bahrain test.

“I'm still improving, just understanding the limits of this car. And I'm still also getting confidence back in my wrist. It was just over a month ago that I crashed. And I'm still kind of hurting.

“That's in the back of my mind, but it's not an excuse. I'm still definitely figuring some stuff out with the car and trying to find some speed in myself in the car.”