Aston Martin progress not enough for Stroll

Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll is demanding more from his team despite the sensational start it has made to the current F1 campaign.

The team is currently in season three of Stroll’s five-year plan to turn Aston Martin into regular race winners and champions.

Arguably, after finishing seventh in last year’s constructors’ championship following a slow start in the wake of the introduction of new aerodynamic regulations, Aston Martin is now currently ahead of schedule.

After the first three grands prix, the team is second in the standings, aided primarily by a trio of third-place finishes from Fernando Alonso.

The AMR23 has proven itself to be a car for all types of circuit, given the varying nature of the tracks in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Melbourne, but an anxious Stroll is eager to quickly build on the progress that has been made.

With a memorable win for Sergio Perez in the Sakhir Grand Prix in 2020 when the team was then known as Racing Point the only success so far under Stroll’s reign, team principal Mike Krack said: “Lawrence’s mission statement is very clear.

“He has not delayed in asking us when are we going to win the next one.

“Obviously, he is happy that we have made a step but this is not enough for his ambitions.

“The good thing with Lawrence is you know where you stand. He wants more, and we will have to deliver more.”

Aston Martin not banking on easy progress

Like any team, Aston Martin will be rolling out a number of upgrades in its bid to catch runaway leaders Red Bull, but primarily in its battle with Mercedes and Ferrari for second place.

Unlike last year, Krack is at least assured that 12 months on, his team is building on a more solid platform given the all-round strengths of its car.

“In a cost cap environment, and with such intensity of racing, you have to start with a good car,” said Krack.

“Because to play catch up, if you are down on points, and as we saw last year, it’s quite impossible (to score) because there was not much to score.

“Even if you had the fourth fastest car last year you were just not scoring enough to make up for any gaps.

“We did manage to develop the car substantially last year, and now we have started (this year) from a higher baseline.

“It will be not as easy as it was last year, but we have to make progress even if we want to stay where we are because if we don’t do anything then we will go back.

“I’m quite confident that we can bring performance upgrades to the car, but because everything is related, only time will tell if this is sufficient or not.”