The Silverstone-based team endured a challenging Spanish GP last weekend as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll ended up finishing behind both Mercedes and Ferrari in the fight to be Red Bull’s closest challenger.
With its rivals having introduced major upgrades to their cars over the past two races, Aston Martin’s lack of performance could suggest that it has been overtaken in pace terms as it has been slow itself to introduce updates.
That situation comes after Alonso urged his squad to step up its introduction of upgrades if it was to maintain its position in regularly fighting for podiums.
Team principal Mike Krack says Alonso is right to put pressure on the team to deliver more, but insists plans are in place for improvements to come.
“He is right to ask us and push us for that,” said Krack. “There will be something coming in Canada. It will be a step.”
While Mercedes and Ferrari are both convinced they have moved forwards in form to change the competitive order in F1, Aston Martin thinks it premature to think that the order has changed behind Red Bull.
Krack cites the fact that, while Aston Martin certainly struggled in the opening stint in Barcelona on soft tyres, things seemed to stabilise when everyone switched to harder compounds later in the race.
Asked by Motorsport.com if he felt rivals’ upgrades had shuffled the pack, Krack said: “No, I don't think so.
“Because when we look later in the race, when we had the hard tyres on for example, we were completely in the game again compared to the competitor.
“So, we really need to understand what's happened in the beginning there. It went obviously overcast very quickly, from very sunny to overcast, which we thought would help the soft tyres.
“But we need to understand why there was this difference in competitiveness at different times of the race.”
Krack also believes that the order in Spain did not directly reflect the pace of the top teams, as Alonso’s chances in the race were heavily compromised by an off in the Q1 qualifying position that damaged his floor and left him unable to challenge for the front row.
Speaking about if he felt Barcelona had shown where the current teams line up in pace terms, Krack said: “I think it is too early or too easy to say that because we have not seen the full picture in qualifying.
“It's something that is similar to how it is at the beginning of the year when we say we need three races to see where we are really.
“Now it could well be that others have made a bigger step. But our early analysis so far doesn't reflect that.”
