After another disastrous weekend at the F1 2026 Chinese GP, Mike Krack, chief trackside officer at Aston Martin, discussed in a print media session how the team keeps an eye on what the competition is doing.
Initially, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll had gained four places as Albon, Bortoleto, Piastri and Norris did not start the race. As the lights went out, both Aston drivers climbed from their qualified places at P19 and P21, respectively.
Alonso even managed to fight up to P10 on the first lap. Yet the AMR26 quickly spiralled. While Stroll retired by lap 9 after some battery issues, Alonso kept going until lap 33 as the strong and dangerous vibrations eventually won out.
The 2026 F1 Chinese GP was just another tragic chapter in Aston Martin’s story so far this season. One week before, both cars had also struggled at Melbourne. Alonso did not finish the race, having to stop by lap 21. Although Stroll technically did, he finished 15 laps behind the lead as he repeatedly entered and left the pits.
Krack on how they must take advantage of other teams lessons after a double DNF
After the race, Mile Krack was asked how Aston Martin balances addressing their own problems and learning from other teams.
“Yes, I think that every Formula 1 team has obviously an eye on what is the competition doing. Be it aerodynamic upgrades, being how do they deploy, how do they do their energy management or how do they do their pit stops. So you always have an eye on the competition.
“And when you are in a situation like we had in Melbourne for example you have to take the learnings from the competition because you do not have your own. So that is what we did at the time.
“So when you can run alone or when you can then also run you can combine both. You can see, ‘OK, people are more doing there something different than we do’. Why?
“And this is something that, again you have to have an eye on the competition and this is what we are doing.”
In regards to whether this consumed mental bandwidth for the team as they are in “firefighting” mode after the 2026 F1 Chinese GP, Krack explained:
“And this does not take any more energy than usual because you do that all the time.
“And it is also not the same people all the time. So you have that normally well organised and you get the learnings from that.”
Krack empathises with other teams that did not start or finish the 2026 F1 Chinese GP
The new cars and regulations took a toll on many other teams during F1’s visit to the Shanghai International Circuit. While both McLarens, Gabriel Bortoleto and Alex Albon did not even start the race, Verstappen joined the Astons and could not finish it.
The weekend before, Nico Hülkenberg and Oscar Piastri did not join the grid at Albert Park Circuit, plus Valtteri Bottas and Hadjar retired before the halfway mark.
When asked about competitors’ struggles and how Aston had at least started both races, Krack expressed:
“Yes, you know, I have a lot of respect for our competitors. They are all working hard and they are all good people and they all have the same problems.
“And when you see cars being wheeled off the track now for the 90 minutes of the Grand Prix it helps you to progress normally but it is not something that you wish to someone.
“I know how hard it is when you wheel two cars away from the track and I don’t wish that to anyone.”
McLarens struggles show how hard this sport can be
He had no information on what was causing so many issues during the Chinese GP for other cars.
“I do not really know what the issue was on all these cars and I was surprised when the formation lap started that they were not lining up at the exit of the pit lane.
“At that point I did not have that information because we are all so busy with our own cars and it doesn’t change anything to our approach.
“But overall I think it shows that a team like McLaren can happen to them as well. It shows that it is not as easy as it is always looking like from the outside.”
After the Chinese GP, teams get a one-week breather before traveling to Japan. Aston Martin and Honda aim to keep working on the car to improve their outlook for the F1 2026 season.
