Aston Martin relishing 'hard fight' with resurgent McLaren

Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack has expressed confidence that his squad can end the season ahead of McLaren.

Aston Martin started the campaign on the strong foot, scoring six podiums in the opening eight races.

However, its form has tapered off in recent weeks, while McLaren has enjoyed a strong resurgence after commencing the season towards the back of the field.

Last time out at the Japanese Grand Prix, the Woking-based squad scored its first double podium of the season with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri crossing the line in second and third respectively.

The gap between the two teams now sits at 49 points in favour of Aston Martin - however that deficit has been narrowed in recent weeks.

'We need to add performance'

Despite being on the back foot, Krack has backed his team to produce the pace needed to stay ahead of McLaren for fourth in the standings.

“It’s a hard fight,” Krack told media including RacingNews365.

“I think we need to look at the upcoming races, we need to deliver the maximum in terms of reliability, which we have not done [in Japan].

“We had one car at the finish, we have to have the best possible operation, no real mistakes on the operations and focus on ourselves we can not influence what they're doing.

“There are some sprints, I think we will have some rain, probably. So it's going to be long and hard.

“I’m always confident. But we need to be better in terms of reliability. We need to add performance.”