Aston Martin feel they can react quicker than rivals

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack believes that the team’s “lean management structure” gives them an advantage over rivals.

The Silverstone-based outfit are preparing for their second season in Formula 1 under the Aston Martin name, a team which has been busy making major staff changes as they put their five-year plan for championship success into action.

Krack’s arrival was part of Aston Martin’s overhaul as he took the team principal role vacated by Otmar Szafnauer.

Alongside Krack in this management structure, ex-McLarenCEO Martin Whitmarsh now serves in that position for Aston Martin, with owner Lawrence Stroll holding the position of chairman.

布莱恩认为这是能够领导小组to react and make decisions faster than other teams, which he thinks is an advantage in Aston Martin’s quest for success.

Plus, Aston Martin are also in the process of developing a new windtunnel and a new factory, which will serve as a major upgrade on their current facility.

Stroll has described it as a “campus” rather than a factory, which he believes will be something else that sets them apart from rival teams.

“我们有一个五年计划,将所有capabilities and facilities to be successful,” said Krack at his presentation as Aston Martin team principal, as quoted byMotorsport.com.

“We will be state-of-the-art, which clearly shows the ambitions of Lawrence and the team.

“We have a lean management structure and can make very, very quick decisions and are very flexible.

“So we have great opportunities. And we have a quick decision-making process. I think this is an advantage that not everyone has.

“We have a pretty lean leadership team, people with a lot of experience from different areas, finance, human resources, communication. So these are all people with a lot of experience, and they know very well what steps we need to take.

“With the way we’ve divided up the tasks, we’re fast at the moment, we’re flexible and we can react faster than others, I think.”

A five-year plan to challenge for titles, as well as great confidence in it, is great, but Krack acknowledges that these have not always worked out in the past for other teams.

However, with Formula 1 entering a new regulatory era this season, that also very much plays its part in such plans, Krack believes.

“Yes, I agree that five-year plans don’t always succeed because only one can win,” he said.

“But like now, you often just have a break where you have to realign with a new set of rules.”

Minus Sebastian Vettel’s fiery oil leak on the third and final day of the Barcelona shakedown, Krack viewed the event overall as a success as the AMR22 took to the track against its rivals.

296 laps were completed across the three days, while Sebastian Vettel set the seventh-fastest time of the test with a 1:19.824 on the C5 tyre, just under seven-tenths shy of Lewis Hamilton’s ultimate benchmark in the Mercedes W13 on the same tyre compound.

So, from a reliability and lap-time perspective, Krack was happy with what he saw in Barcelona, but will now look to use the lessons learned to improve further in the official Bahrain pre-season test from March 10-12.

“In this respect, the test was a success,” he said.

“We’ve had a few hiccups, like most teams, but that’s understandable when you see what we’ve changed.

“And we also have to remember that that’s what testing is for. If we don’t learn it there, we don’t learn it at all.

“Of course, the time in between [Barcelona and Bahrain] is not very long. There’s also all the logistics of getting everything to Bahrain.

“But we are working hard to improve the car with what we have learned.”