[ad_1]
After Bahrain, the AMR24 emerged as the fifth fastest car in the lead group in terms of race pace, finishing ninth and tenth.
Fernando Alonso then finished fifth in Saudi Arabia and sixth on the road in Australia, before receiving a penalty.
In Japan, the Spaniard finished sixth after what he claims was one of the five best weekends of his career while teammate Lance Stroll had a tougher time, although the Canadian moved up from 16th on the grid in 12th place at the finish, passing several cars along the way.
But Krack says Alonso beating both Mercedes drivers at Suzuka was further indication that the team is no longer at the back of the leading group in terms of race pace.
“I think we can agree that we were not in no man’s land and that is positive,” he said.
“Because here with the high degradation and – you can overtake, we saw that you can overtake in incredible places, although I didn’t know you could go through the Esses – but you see that with a delta of pace and big enough Delta tires, you can do it if you’re brave enough.
“But we didn’t seem to be in no man’s land. We seem to be in the pack. We were in front of the Mercedes. So that’s very encouraging.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
“But again, it’s a data point. Bahrain is easier to overtake than here. But we were never really threatened, let’s put it that way. Let’s see, we will have to confirm during the next races.
Krack said the decision to start Alonso on soft tires – the Spaniard was the only favorite to do so – had paid off.
“We were praying that the clouds would be there,” he said. “And then they left!” The interruption [red flag] helped too. And also, when you start with software, if you have an interruption or a slowdown, it always helps to introduce them better.
“On the other hand, we have traditionally, or statistically, had a lot of safety cars at the start here, so you can run on your tires after the second or third lap. So these are all choices that have been done strategically.
“Would we do the same thing? It’s a good question. I think you’ve seen a lot of cars probably a little surprised by the hard tires and also surprised by the yellows. [mediums] – they held up very well. So yeah, I think it’s hard to say.
Krack was reluctant to give an initial assessment of the upgrade package the team introduced at Suzuka, which included a new stage.
“We’re looking at everything right now to try to understand and quantify,” he said. “Again, this is a sample data. And it’s something we need to find out.
“I’ve said it before, cars are complex, and sometimes it takes a little longer to really understand what you’ve changed. It wasn’t easy with the lost session [FP2] which we had on Friday. So we learn a lot.
“Again, I don’t have the full numbers yet, we know how far away we were in the first few races and it looks like we’re a bit closer to it now. We need to understand this: How much does it cost? And where do we go from here?
[ad_2]
