Aston Martin address conspicuous lack of upgrades after 'extraordinary problems'

Mike Krack has defended Aston Martin's decision to arrive at the Miami Grand Prix without a single aerodynamic upgrade, explaining the rationale behind the call.

Ferrari brought 11 new parts to Florida, McLaren and Red Bull each introduced seven updates, and every other team delivered at least one development item.

The Silverstone-based squad, which is rooted to the bottom of the constructors' championship with zero points after four rounds, brought nothing for the AMR26.

Krack, who is now the team's chief trackside officer, explained the strategy when asked when aerodynamic developments can be expected.

"We have now, obviously, seen over the last weeks and months... and it's not that long, especially the way we have made steps on the reliability and on the reduction of the vibrations, on the improvement of the drivability, I think we have already seen quite substantial upgrades so far," he told media, including RacingNews365.

"And we have to continue to work on that line. So I will not get drawn into [saying] the next race or the race after, or whenever it is going to come.

"We have shown that we had a lot of problems when the season started, extraordinary problems, but I think the speed at which we used resources was quite remarkable.

"I think we can hope, we can count on getting more, but we also must acknowledge that there is a big gap to close, and this may not be remotely the work of a week."

Extracting from the current package

Aston Martin's season began with critical technical failures that have limited both drivers' track time. Prior to the round at the Miami International Autodrome, the team had only one classified finish: Fernando Alonso's P18 at Suzuka.

Whilst there were multiple problems to overcome, vibrations from the battery in the power unit became the defining issue, with Alonso withdrawing from the Chinese Grand Prix due to discomfort and both drivers reporting concerns about potential nerve damage.

The team achieved a milestone in Miami by recording their first double finish of the season, with Alonso in P15 and Lance Stroll in P17.

Krack was asked why delaying upgrades is worthwhile, particularly with Alonso suggesting aerodynamic developments might not arrive until after the summer break.

The 54-year-old replied: "You have to acknowledge, 'what is the strategy?', and 'what is the plan?'

"And our job at the track here is to get the maximum out of what you have. I think we can safely say that we are not optimal with everything... optimum execution [in Miami], we didn't have for one reason or another.

"I think we did well, but we could have done better. And I think the same applies to energy, the same applies to drivability.

"So we have a lot to extract from this package, the way it is at the moment. It's important that we keep everybody motivated to work on that, and then wait for the big steps to come."