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Fernando Alonso's boss and Aston Martin team principal looked back at the team's mid-season slump and admitted that the period was challenging.
They had started the season with a bang, with Alonso securing a podium in his first race in green colours in Bahrain. The Spaniard continued his impressive start to the season with six podiums in the first eight races. What followed next, though, was a stunning drop in form that saw Aston Martin fall back in the pecking order.
Fernando Alonso ended the season with eight podiums, picking up further podiums in the Dutch GP and Brazilian GP, but Aston Martin could not return to its initial level of performance.
Talking about the same in a Q and A released by the team on its website, the Aston Martin team principal admitted that it was a testing time:
"For me, that period was challenging because there's a need to understand what's happening. You have to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. Are others improving massively? Are we not progressing enough?
"You have to be honest in your assessments, ask yourself tough questions, form an understanding and then make sure everybody in the team also understands the situation, sticks together and works through it."
He added:
"I said a few times, the goal for the rest of the season was to understand the car and reverse the trend. I thought if we could get back on the podium in the second half of the year, that would be a fantastic achievement. We did that twice – but everyone still wants more!"
We knew it would get harder: Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin boss
Looking back at the season, Mike Krack termed the start of the season 'incredible'. The Aston Martin team principal admitted that even though the early success changed expectations, the team was very realistic:
"The first six races were incredible – but I knew there would be difficult moments that would follow. We were realistic and tried to manage expectations.
"Competition in F1 is fierce. Very good teams that didn't start the season so well would inevitably get on top of their problems and bring the fight to us. We knew it would get harder."
Fernando Alonso would be a bit concerned heading into the 2024 season, especially since Aston Martin's form waned by the end of the year.
