Aston Martin Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack has delivered a savage verdict of the team’s 2026 season after a nightmare Formula 1 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Aston Martin is enduring the worst season in its history in 2026, as the combination of the AMR26 and power unit supplier Honda struggled for pace.
Barcelona proved to be a new low, as both cars qualified on the back row, some four seconds off pole position time set by George Russell’s Mercedes.
The team’s woes were compounded on race day, as both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both failed to finish.
Krack conceded after the race that no one issue is causing Aston Martin’s woes, it instead caused by a multitude.
“I think it’s everything,” he said.
“Yeah, I think we need to improve.
“If it was only one thing, it would be quite easy. The problem where Lance thought he had a problem, that is a clear drivability issue, so I don’t think they are solved.
“I think you are correct in saying this track probably exposes them less. But then, the track character cannot be more different here than to Monaco.
“You have a lot of high-speed corners, a lot of medium-speed corners, very, very few low speeds, and in Monaco, it’s the opposite. Then in Monaco you struggle to make the tyres work, while here, you try to cool the tyres, so it’s really very, very different. But the fact that we are behind on both circuits shows you that I think it’s all areas that we have to, have to work on.”
Aston Martin “learning new things”
Krack said the team can take positives from its current malaise, highlighting that Aston Martin is a constant state of learning.
“You always learn new things,” he revealed.
As crazy as it might sound, when you are between three and four seconds off, you think you are driving in a different category, but still you learn a lot.
“Barcelona is very, very difficult for energy. You have seen the FIA was tweaking the energy a couple of times before the event, so it is a difficult circuit for energy, and I think we learned a great deal about how we have to adjust our processes to get the maximum out of it.
“So there are some small positives, you know, it is difficult to see them. The single pit stop that we did was very good in my opinion, and we have to work with this and try to improve in all other areas.”
Aston Martin are banking on a series of upgrades to both car and engine that are planned for later in the year. They simply must work.
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