Aston Martin explain why Fernando Alonso’s Australian GP podium was not ‘stolen’

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack has admitted there was some luck to Fernando Alonso’s third consecutive podium of 2023, but it was not “stolen”.

Alonso finished in third place in Melbourne to take his third consecutive third place in the 2023 Formula 1 season. The Aston Martin driver needed a big slice of luck, after being spun around by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the final standing start following a red flag.

Alonso ended up at the very back of the field and fearing damage after the collision, but struck fortune as the red flags were shown once again as the two Alpine drivers collided and crashed heavily into the wall on the exit of Turn 2.

Together with another incident as Logan Sargeant crashed into the back of Nyck de Vries, as well as Lance Stroll sliding off into the gravel at Turn 3, the mayhem resulted in another red flag – Race Control opting to restart the race for the final time by restoring the order of the standing start, meaning Alonso got his third place position back.

It was an unusual set of circumstances, with Krack revealing afterward he had been confident of the reset once the red flags were shown for the final time – this was due to the need for the FIA to choose a point at which the running order was last known.

Mike Krack: We did not steal anything with third place finish

“We checked the ranking at the Safety Car lines and all that, because of the precedent we had in Silverstone last year,” Krack told media, including PlanetF1.com, following the race.

“We were pretty confident that it was going to be realigned or re-ordered like that. But you never know until you see it.

“So it was, as you can imagine, a lot of discussions. But, all in all, it turned out to be good. It was important that the car was still alive and drivable at this point because we saw others were not which, I have to say, we were lucky at that point.

“But I think still, in the end, we have not stolen anything. We were in the positions that we were in before that. So I think it’s fine, but there was an element of luck.”

Was there any hidden damage to Alonso’s car, that may have been exposed had there been more racing laps toward the end?

“We checked when we took the wheels off in the red flag period,” Krack said. “We checked everything and it looked to be okay.”

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With Alonso immediately getting on team radio to point out the precedent of Silverstone 2022 for the purpose of resetting the restart order, Krack laughed and said that it was ‘typical’ of the two-time World Champion to remember unique circumstances from the past.

“He remembers every race that he has done and what happened, where, and what we should look at – that’s pretty impressive,” he said.

“For us, in this case, it was quite recent at Silverstone so we also did remember it but, had we not, he would have reminded us quickly!”

Mike Krack highlights contribution of team manager Andy Stevenson

During the height of the chaos as the race was neutralised and Race Control were trying to figure out the restart order, a key component of the discussions involves the team managers getting on the radio. To this end, Aston Martin’s team manager Andy Stevenson would have been in constant contact to try and make sure the precedent is known and acknowledged – Krack praised the experienced Stevenson for ensuring the correct information reached Race Control.

“They are in touch all the time,” he said.

“他们试图一起工作,因为你不能去ttacking on the radio all the time. Andy is a professional. He’s done this for many, many years. And he knows exactly when he has to say what and, because of that, he’s taken very seriously. If he has to say something, normally it’s right. He talks to them, but he’s not constantly menacing or angry – not at all.”