Team boss ‘exceptionally’ happy with 25-year-old driver after ending bad run of form

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Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack was very quick to praise Lance Stroll after his performance in Brazil yesterday.

Krack was speaking to Sky Sports F1 after a very positive race at Interlagos for the British team.

After starting the season so well, Aston Martin’s performances have dipped compared to their rivals in the second half of the year.

Fernando Alonso began the campaign with six podiums in his first eight races and looked to be the closest challenger to Max Verstappen.

However, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren have all improved their cars significantly over the course of the year.

Aston Martin have brought upgrades too, but appear to have gone in the right direction with their development.

It’s made scoring points difficult for both drivers with Lance Stroll finishing in the top ten on just three occasions since the British Grand Prix before yesterday.

However, Mike Krack was delighted that Stroll came home in fifth in Brazil and overtook Pierre Gasly in the driver’s standings.

Finishing in the top ten of the championship is a must for the Canadian going into next season.

The gap to Alonso is already well over 100 points and he’ll be desperate for that gulf not to grow even further in the final two races.

Krack shares Stroll appreciation in Brazil

Speaking about the young Canadian, Krack said: “Absolutely, with this fight between the two [Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez] we forgot that Lance [Stroll] was catching them.

“And this for me shows that if you provide a good car to the drivers that they perform exceptionally and what has happened today is really very nice.”

Stroll has a very difficult task as he’s constantly compared to his much more experienced teammate in a car that appears to be very inconsistent.

There have been races where he should have performed a lot better, but this weekend has shown that he can regularly score points if provided with the right car.

He will be disappointed with his two starts as he couldn’t maintain third place on the grid, even with Charles Leclerc not taking the start.

However, Krack would have seen plenty from Stroll in Brazil that would encourage him going forward.

He’s also shared what change he’d like to make to try and match his more successful teammate, but that might have to wait until 2024.