Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack believes it’s “too early” to judge whether Mercedes have overtaken Aston Martin in terms of overall performance, following the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows claimed their first double podium last weekend since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, whilst Aston Martin finished sixth and seventh respectively.
It marked a disappointing weekend for the Silverstone-based team, who were arguably the slowest they’ve been all season.
In their defence, Mercedes have recently introduced their new concept, something which has improved their performance.
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Aston Martin might find themselves back ahead of the Germans next weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix, where they’re planning to install a large upgrade of their own.
It’s taken a new concept for Mercedes to actually get on top of Aston Martin, suggesting that a sizeable upgrade for the British outfit would see them rebuild an advantage over the Brackley-based team.
With that in mind, Krack doesn’t think too much can be read into Mercedes’ pace for the time being.
“I think it is too early or too easy to say that, because we have not seen the full picture in qualifying,” said Krack.
“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.”
Lance Stroll was shocked by how fast Mercedes were in Spain, with the Canadian having been easily overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
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The 24-year-old described the W14 as a “rocket ship”, something which came as a surprise given that only Red Bull have been superior to them this season.
“They had a rocket ship – I’m not sure where they found that pace,” said Stroll.
“I was expecting us to be the strongest car after Red Bull. I expected that after all the races this year. We just didn’t have it. [We had] a lot of degradation and [were] struggling with our pace compared to Merc, Ferrari. Red Bull is in another league. We just didn’t have the upper hand.”