Fernando Alonso had the dubious honor of retiring not once but twice in Melbourne. The Spaniard drove a few more laps for Aston Martin after his first retirement, before the team decided to permanently withdraw the world champion from the race. According to top executive Mike Krack, the team also faced problems here, this time with communication: ‘You have so many channels, and then sometimes something goes wrong’.
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It was a remarkable sight during the Australian GP: Fernando Alonso retiring not once, but twice during the race. In lap fifteen, Aston Martin already called the Spaniard in to take the car out of the race. A few minutes later, however, Alonso was back on track, eleven laps behind the rest of the field. Aston Martin then decided to definitively not let the Spanish star finish the race.
Mick Krack – currently Chief Trackside Officer at the team – admits that the communication surrounding Alonso’s two retirements was messy. “The first pit stop in lap eleven was already messy,” he told the media present after the race. “That didn’t come from the garage, but from us at the pit wall. The communication didn’t go very well. You have so many channels, and then sometimes something goes wrong. One of the things we have to recognize is that we haven’t done this often yet. That is something we have to work on in the future.”
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Preserving parts
Ultimately, both Alonso and Lance Stroll did not finish the opening race in Melbourne. Aston Martin decided to prioritize preserving parts and therefore withdrew the cars. “Ultimately, it is well known that we are not rich in parts,” Krack said. “There wasn’t much to gain from our position, and we made the decision together to preserve the parts.” Whether the race in China will go much better for the British team is still the big question. Honda top executive Koji Watanabe emphasized that the issue must be resolved before the Japanese GP, after the race in Shanghai.
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Read everything about the Chinese GP here
