Heading into the summer break, the team are in ninth place in the world championship, ahead of only Williams.
Apart from a sixth-place finish for Sebastian Vettel in Azerbaijan, the team recorded an eighth, ninth and six 10th-place finishes in the first part of the season.
Krack says the main problem is simply a lack of qualifying pace which forced Vettel and teammate Lance Stroll to show up on the pitch.
“We seem to be accumulating a fair amount of positive runs,” Krack said. “But we also have to move forward. Because I think it’s been a few times already that we’ve had a very high pace in the race and made good decisions.
“But we’re going too far behind. That’s a problem. And you see you score one, two, one, one, one point, and that’s not enough to close the gap to the manufacturers up front.”
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Krack says the team has no explanation for its lack of pace on Saturday compared to its good running form.
“Yeah, we’re trying to figure it out, honestly. Because if we knew why, then we would also try to change it. So it’s something that we really have to figure out, what does this.
“And the best approach to understanding that is that you should always refer to the lap time difference with the cars, not the standings. Because with the tight midfield it’s very, very often that if you are wrong, you lose three or four positions.
“So if somebody does really well, they gain three grid positions, maybe five or six, because the midfield is so tight, so it’s very important to be really objective and really watch the difference in lap time you’re having.
“And then see where we have to go where we have to improve. But it’s clear that on Saturday we struggle more than on Sunday.”
Krack says the steering feedback issue cited by drivers earlier in the year, which contributed to crashes in Melbourne, has now been resolved.
“I think the feedback issues that we were referring to at the time, we’re fine. We’ve made pretty good progress in all of those races.
“And I think our main weakness that you see when you look at race tracks like Silverstone, Austria. When you have a lot of high-speed corners, we struggle.
“So from that point of view we have to work on the aerodynamics, but I think we can still improve this car.”
Asked by Autosport to sum up his first months in charge, he said: “To be honest, there are mixed feelings. I’m very happy with the way the team is working. And the way I was received, the way things are going. evolving.
“But I’m very disappointed with our performance. And we would have liked to progress faster than us. And we are progressing. It’s measurable, but the others are at the same pace, or even faster.”
“So that’s one of the things we have to look at for the future. How can we progress faster? Or start on a better footing straight away?”
Heading into the summer break, the team are in ninth place in the world championship, ahead of only Williams.
Apart from a sixth-place finish for Sebastian Vettel in Azerbaijan, the team recorded an eighth, ninth and six 10th-place finishes in the first part of the season.
Krack says the main problem is simply a lack of qualifying pace which forced Vettel and teammate Lance Stroll to show up on the pitch.
“We seem to be accumulating a fair amount of positive runs,” Krack said. “But we also have to move forward. Because I think it’s been a few times already that we’ve had a very high pace in the race and made good decisions.
“But we’re going too far behind. That’s a problem. And you see you score one, two, one, one, one point, and that’s not enough to close the gap to the manufacturers up front.”
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Krack says the team has no explanation for its lack of pace on Saturday compared to its good running form.
“Yeah, we’re trying to figure it out, honestly. Because if we knew why, then we would also try to change it. So it’s something that we really have to figure out, what does this.
“And the best approach to understanding that is that you should always refer to the lap time difference with the cars, not the standings. Because with the tight midfield it’s very, very often that if you are wrong, you lose three or four positions.
“So if somebody does really well, they gain three grid positions, maybe five or six, because the midfield is so tight, so it’s very important to be really objective and really watch the difference in lap time you’re having.
“And then see where we have to go where we have to improve. But it’s clear that on Saturday we struggle more than on Sunday.”
Krack says the steering feedback issue cited by drivers earlier in the year, which contributed to crashes in Melbourne, has now been resolved.
“I think the feedback issues that we were referring to at the time, we’re fine. We’ve made pretty good progress in all of those races.
“And I think our main weakness that you see when you look at race tracks like Silverstone, Austria. When you have a lot of high-speed corners, we struggle.
“So from that point of view we have to work on the aerodynamics, but I think we can still improve this car.”
Asked by Autosport to sum up his first months in charge, he said: “To be honest, there are mixed feelings. I’m very happy with the way the team is working. And the way I was received, the way things are going. evolving.
“But I’m very disappointed with our performance. And we would have liked to progress faster than us. And we are progressing. It’s measurable, but the others are at the same pace, or even faster.”
“So that’s one of the things we have to look at for the future. How can we progress faster? Or start on a better footing straight away?”
