Aston Martin Formula 1 boss Mike Krack has hailed the unveiling of Adrian Newey as a “fantastic” moment amid criticism from Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner.
Newey was announced as Managing Technical Partner at Aston Martin via a special press conference in front of the media and team staff at Silverstone last week.
Still, Horner labelled the celebration as “premature” given that Newey remains under contract with Red Bull until his gardening leave period ends in March.
“Premature” didn’t fit into Krack’s vocabulary and the Aston Martin Team Principal couldn’t have been happier with how the event went down.
“It was a great announcement, it was a great week for us,” he said (via RacingNews365).
“It was fantastic in the factory, in the campus. It was great here.
“You could like some extra motivation, and there is also much more attention from you guys [media] because of that.
“So I think it’s good for the team, it’s good for the brand. We achieved a good result.”
Aston Martin enjoyed ‘great return’ at Baku, says Krack
With the event done and dusted, Krack insisted that it was back to business for Aston Martin.
“On Tuesday, it was, yeah, to be honest. When everything was done, we said, ‘Okay, back to work, where are we?’
“So that was one, but it was a good one. But after that, everybody was focused, trying to do the best possible job.
“I think for the drivers, it gave an extra motivation, and for the team alike. But I don’t think it was distracting.”
The first task that came upon Aston’s radar was a trip to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
On Fernando Alonso’s side of the garage, the Newey motivation paid dividends, with the Spaniard picking up sixth place.
“Leaving Baku with eight important points is a great return for our efforts this weekend,” Krack said.
“It is more than we expected coming into the weekend, but it shows there are always opportunities on this challenging street track.
“Fernando drove a very strong race, making the most of his qualifying position to run in eighth for most of the afternoon, and then gained a couple of places with the accident ahead in the final laps.
Going into the race we were worried about our tyre degradation, so full credit to Fernando and the team for delivering a one-stop race, which was critical for this result.
“Our attention now turns to Singapore next week – a similar challenge to Baku – where we will look to score more points.”
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