Aston Martin knew before Mexico GP neither car would finish, Krack says

Both Aston Martins retired after five laps in Mexico. Aston Martin’s chief trackside engineer Mike Krack says the team knew before the Grand Prix that neither car would reach the finish. “Yeah, we knew that a bit earlier than Sunday morning,” he said during media day ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix.

Before the race, Aston Martin and Honda had discussed how to keep the cars running for as long as possible. Krack said the options included running in clear air, managing gear use and reducing power, but the team quickly realised they were insufficient.

Honda had already described the Mexico weekend as a considerable challenge and said reliability would come under pressure. Its chief engineer, Shintaro Orihara, later said the engine behaved somewhat abnormally in special circumstances, stressing ERS cooling and causing MGU-K problems during qualifying and the race. He attributed the issues to Mexico’s high altitude.