Aston Martin team boss responds to Alonso's intention to continue in F1
General
Fernando Alonso is far from finished at Aston Martin. The Spaniard is more motivated than ever to make his stay at the British racing stable successful. The two-time world champion recently expressed his hope to continue driving for several more years with his current employer, and team boss Mike Krack was happy when he heard those words come from Alonso.
Speaking to GPblog and others, Krack was asked in Spain how long Alonso can stay at Aston Martin. "It's nice to hear that, that he has said that, several years. We will be happy with that. I think the main thing, and this is one of the big qualities, is the desire to be at the front, to have the motivation. I think this is fully on with Fernando."
Alonso's contract expires at the end of 2024. The current third place in the world championship will then be 43 and, with a contract extension, he will then be 44 in the 2025 season. But Krack does not want to put a years figure on when Alonso will finish his racing at Aston Martin. "We don't think so much about that, to be honest, as you guys. We take it race by race and we try to do well every race. It's nice to hear that, but we didn't think too much about it yet. Let's make it happen," he said.
Krack on Alonso's criticism of media
After the Monaco Grand Prix, Alonso was quite critical towards the press. It was all about whether he could have won if he had gone straight to intermediates at his first pit stop, instead of another change to slicks. According to Alonso, the media is often very negative, and it is not fair to judge like this because decisions are made in the heat of the moment, with it being easy to complain afterwards that they (the driver and team) were wrong.
Had the choice worked out well, the team would have been praised to the skies, the 41-year-old driver claimed. Krack commented: "Yeah, but that is the nature of Formula 1. So it's something we have to live with. We are exposed and we want to be reported when everything runs well and then we have also to accept if reports are coming out if things could have been better. It's not really a drama."
The Luxembourg team boss continued: "I understand Fernando that he points this out because it is a fact but we know that and with the media, if the sport is so public and so under scrutiny then it is clear that these things are also being discussed."