Aston Martin announce Team Principal

Aston Martin have announced that Mike Krack will become their new Team Principal, after the recently departed Otmar Szafnauer.

Even though the name is not familiar in the F1 world, Krack has appeared in many motorsport roles. He headed up BMW’s global motorsport operation since 2014, which meant he was in charge of the manufacturer’s Formula E, GT and IMSA programmes. As well as overseeing their expansion into the new LMDh category.

Prior to his BMW days, he spent 18 months with Porsche as head of track engineering for their LMP1 project, working alongside current McLaren Team Principle, Andreas Seidl.

However, this isn’t his first time in F1, he previously worked at Sauber and BMW Sauber, which includes working as an engineer with current Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel when he was the test driver.

“It is a thrill and an honour to have been appointed to the position of Team Principal of Aston Martin,” said Krack. “I am very grateful to Lawrence [Stroll] and Martin [Whitmarsh] for giving me such a fantastic opportunity. Aston Martin is one of the greatest automotive brands in the world, and to have been asked to play a leading role in delivering the on-track Formula One success that such an illustrious name so richly deserves is a challenge that I plan to embrace with energy and enthusiasm.”

Aston Martin chairman Lawrence Stroll said: “Winning in Formula One is all about bringing together the best efforts of all the principal players – drivers, engineers, mechanics, everyone – and Mike is perfectly placed to do just that. We are about to embark on year two of our five-year plan, the objective of which is to win Formula One World Championships,” added Stroll.

“All the ingredients we require are coming together. Mike will play a central and leading role, reporting to Martin Whitmarsh [Aston Martin Group Chief Executive Officer] and leading our technical and operational functions, our collective aim being to fulfil those lofty ambitions. We are on our way.”

My Opinion-

To be honest, I didn’t know who would replace Otmar but, Mike seems like the right choice. He has had a lot of experience in Motorsport, so his not going in their blind-sided but the thing which stuck out the most to me was him working with Vettel in the past- it will be interesting to see the relationship between the pair over the year.