Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack has said that Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are “very mature” as team-mates whilst outlining the dynamic between the pair.
Alonso’s history of conflict with teams and Stroll’s position as the son of team owner Lawrence led many to speculate a difficult atmosphere could potentially evolve.
However, Krack said the team’s honest form of communication, coupled with his drivers’ maturity means no such difficulties have occurred since Alonso arrived last year.
“We have a particular situation, obviously, because one of the drivers is the son of the owner and the other is an experienced mature driver,” he explained to Motorsport.com.
“So, you need to think: what are the dynamics and how are they going to be evolving?
“When Fernando joined us, many people were warning us he can be difficult, so we tried to prepare ourselves.
“We had to think, what is our approach – and this was not only me, it was the sporting director, and performance director – and how are we going to manage the media?”
Krack stated that Stroll’s junior days amongst the Ferrari ranks, which overlapped with Alonso’s time at the Scuderia, also helped contribute to a positive team dynamic.
“But we needed to be aware that both Fernando and Lance had known each other forever – already from the Ferrari times,” he said.
“So when it started, we took the approach that we have to be open, honest and transparent with both at all times”
He added: “It’s not only in the good times, but also in the less good times.
“The truth is sometimes the hardest bit, and these are the most difficult conversations.
“But if you have them, it’s so much easier after.
“It includes things like, how do we race each other? How do we handle each other? How do we treat things if we have more difficult results?”
Alonso, the elder statesman amongst the F1 driver fraternity, has repeatedly been vocal about using his vast experience to play a supporting role in Stroll’s career.
The Spaniard called his Canadian teammate a “hero” for racing through injury at the start of the 2023 season and expressed a desire to help prepare Stroll to lead Aston Martin for “the next 10 to 15 years.”
It appears Alonso and Stroll formed an almost teacher/student style of relationship and Krack’s comments support the notion that the pair have handled their short time so far as teammates well.
“We managed, with the contribution from both drivers and from everybody around, to keep an open, honest, transparent relationship – and this made it really easy,” Krack said.
“But I have to say, Lance and Fernando, the way they work with each other, the way they treat each other, does not need any intervention from our side, because they are just very mature.
“They put the team in the centre, and it is the same for us. For us, the team is everything.
“They know that we have nine hot competitors out there, and we don’t gain anything by fighting each other. That’s really very helpful. So credit to both of them for the way they handled it.”
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