Aston Martin boss takes huge compliment from Fernando Alonso comparison

Aston Martin boss Mike Krack is happy to hear Fernando Alonso describe this year as his best in F1 for a decade having moved over to the team.

This time last season, Alonso was preparing for what many thought was a sideways step from Alpine to Aston Martin but the Silverstone squad’s remarkable improvement over the winter saw the Spaniard earn eight podiums in 2023.

And although the year may not have finished in the same vein as it started, Alonso still highlighted it as one of his best in F1 much to Krack’s delight.

Mike Krack welcomes Fernando Alonso’s 2023 assessment

Having finished fourth in the Drivers’ standings, Alonso said it was his best season since his 2012 title success with Ferrari.

“I’m happy with the personal performance,” he said.

“I think together with 2012, it’s the best season for me in my driving and I was happy with everything. Motivated, I was fit, I was performing in difficult conditions sometimes.”

This summarisation was music to the ears of Krack who was happy to hear his star driver had settled in.

“We take this as a compliment,” Krack said on Sky Sports. “We heard this judgement of Fernando’s and it’s very nice to hear that because many people were quite surprised when he joined us.

“But I think from day one, the whole team together, both drivers with the team, we were full of energy. Tried really hard to make this a better season and I think the way we got out of the starting blocks and then also how we continued into the middle and also the recovery at the end, I think was a great moment for the whole team and it gives us great motivation now to continue for the coming year.”

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Krack must now mastermind a difficult challenge of producing a similar improvement in performance over the coming winter but hopes to use what they learned in 2023 to their benefit for next season.

“I think at the time we were more like an underdog,” Krack said of last year. “People were not really expecting so much progress from us so it was a little bit easier than it certainly will be this time around.

“The expectation is obviously growing. We are one year further in our programme and it will not be easier but people are very focused at the moment trying to develop the new car. We try to optimise everything and the competitiveness is always a relative game.

“We need to try and improve our car compared to last year. We need to improve the team, take a step further and try to be better in all areas and then we have to see how we rank because this is what we will be judged on at the end of the day.”

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