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“The infrastructure changes happening here, they are tremendous,” he adds. “Because we must not forget this team at Silverstone is a great team for all these years it… always overperformed to its possibilities and it is important to find out where are the strengths of the team, and where can we make it stronger, where can we improve on some of the weaknesses. PODCAST: Lawrence Stroll on signing Vettel, working with Schumacher, and his Aston Martin masterplan You have to first come here and understand how this team is working. “ I think you have to approach this in a humble way. “When you see this huge new building being built, it is overwhelming,” says Krack. So can – and should – Krack really try to maintain that underdog ‘Silverstone Team’ spirit, at the same time as attempting to achieve Lawrence Stroll’s very publicly stated goals of turning the fabled name of Aston Martin into F1 frontrunners? READ MORE: ‘For many reasons we should be better off this year’ says Vettel after Aston Martin unveil new AMR22īut work is ongoing on an impressive new 400,000 square foot facility – housing both a new factory and a new wind tunnel, and set for completion by early 2023.Īnd then there are the high-level technical signings that have been made, including ex-Red Bull man Dan Fallows as Technical Director, along with Luca Furbatto joining from Alfa Romeo, and Eric Blandin transferring from Mercedes. The ‘Silverstone Team’ have built a reputation as underdogs who consistently punch above their weight, an ethos Krack says he would be “foolish” to undermine during his tenure. But the current squad – purchased by a Stroll-led consortium midway through 2018 – can trace their roots through Racing Point, to Force India, Spyker and Midland, back to the original Jordan team who first competed in F1 in 1991. With that brand, the Aston Martin brand, we have all the ingredients that you need to be successful.”Īston Martin may have briefly been a works team in F1 in the late 1950s and early 1960s. “But at the end of the day, it's a huge challenge but it's also a huge opportunity that we have now. “Obviously, you cannot switch and be… winning from the first day,” he adds. We have to succeed, but also, we’ve spent so much time and so much budget, and it's not for being second or participating. “At Aston Martin, yes, the pressure is there, but I think you have to turn that into positive pressure. So, from that point of view, it’s the ultimate place to be. It's the same for motorsport, an engineer or driver.
#MOTORSPORT MANAGER UNDERDOG CHALLENGE PROFESSIONAL#
“I think Formula 1 is like the Champions League,” says Krack, “and every professional football player wants to play Champions League.
#MOTORSPORT MANAGER UNDERDOG CHALLENGE DRIVERS#
READ MORE: Drivers have got a 'mountain to climb' to get on top of 2022 cars, says Vettel And it’s clearly not a job the 49-year-old is taking lightly. And his task is a big one: to spearhead Lawrence Stroll’s five-year plan to turn Aston Martin into World Championship contenders. Krack’s is not a name widely known inside the world of F1, despite the Luxembourg native’s impressive motorsport career – which includes a stint at Sauber/BMW Sauber as an engineer in the 2000s.īut it was his later career away from F1 that brought him to the attention of Stroll and Whitmarsh, Krack rising up – after a stint at Porsche’s winning World Endurance Championship squad, alongside current McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl – to the level of BMW M Motorsport Director, the post he was holding when the headhunters came knocking.Īnd now, after over 13 years outside of the F1 paddock, he’s back in. The news broke in January that Krack would be taking over the role of team boss at Aston Martin, following the parting of ways between the team and Otmar Szafnauer – himself now taking the reins at Alpine. There were several meetings with Martin and with Lawrence until we came to a point where we shook hands and we said we can do this.” “I have to be honest,” smiles Krack, “I was by the opportunity that I was offered. READ MORE: Aston Martin evaluating developing own power unit for 2026 Initially kept in the dark as to who was interested in his services, Krack said it soon became clear that it was Aston Martin – and they were keen for him to join as Team Principal. Then I got a call from a headhunting agency…” “I was sitting in my home office for two weeks quarantining after testing positive. “I was at Petit Le Mans – and I probably caught Covid at Petit Le Mans,” says Krack, speaking on a Zoom call and dressed smartly in a no-nonsense V-neck sweater, sporting a pair of no-nonsense glasses. Mike Krack was sitting at home feeling under the weather when the discussions began that would ultimately lead to him becoming Aston Martin’s Team Principal, as of March 1 2022.
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