Aston Martin concede 'wheels not turning' as pre-season misery continues

Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack has conceded the team is continuing to endure teething problems as it struggles to make any inroads in pre-season testing.

Following a difficult three days of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit last week, in which Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll completed just 203 laps, the lowest total of the 11 teams on track, the hope was that the team could hit the ground running on F1's return visit to the desert venue this week.

Unfortunately, Aston Martin could not have endured a worse day as Alonso sat out the majority of the morning session due to a PU-related issue, completing just 28 laps. Stroll managed two laps fewer due to what appeared to be a problem with the active aero that pitched him into the gravel at Turn 11.

Suggested to Krack that what Aston was enduring were 'growing pains' given the numerous new aspects surrounding the team, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, he said: "I think that is good judgment.

"You need reliability. The wheels need to turn. So far, we've not managed to keep the wheels turning as much as we wanted.

"You learn every lap, and for every lap you don't do, or you miss, you have to play catch-up, so not a fantastic start.

"We acknowledge that we have work to do, and we understand that we are not at the level that others might be.

"But everything is new. The Honda partnership, and we are doing the gearbox and suspension, and that is a big exercise.

"I hope it is a beginner problem, teething problems, but even if the start is difficult, we have to focus, look at our problems and solve them step by step."

Aston encountering 'lots of little problems'

Krack further conceded that Aston Martin was "late to the party" in testing, not getting its AMR26 on track until the final hour of the fourth day of the five-day shakedown test in Barcelona in January, and even then, Stroll broke down after four laps.

As occurred in Bahrain on Monday, a repeat pattern is emerging as the team is suffering with "lots of little problems...in all areas of the car" which are preventing it from running.

"We have new electronics, new partners, a new gearbox, a new suspension," he reiterated. "It is difficult to isolate one single area.

"That would be the easiest, because if you have just one item to fix, you can put all your efforts on that.

"It is probably lateness which has put us into a bit more difficult situation on the reliability side. But I said it earlier, if you do not accumulate the laps, and I think we have three times fewer laps than some of the best competitors, that puts you behind.

"You need to be realistic about it, and then you need to catch up. There's no other way, but they're not waiting for us, so we need to really do our best not to lose touch."