Krack: We knew Monza would not be a kind track to us

Following Fernando Alonso's second place at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Aston Martin had totally different fortunes as the Formula 1 circus landed in Italy for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

The only common thing between Zandvoort and Monza was Lance Stroll toiling around at the low end of the gird, totally anonymous while Alonso one more time was leading the team's charge and scoring points for them.

However, with Ferrari putting maximum effort to perform well at their home race, they were second fastest behind Red Bull. Mercedes were behind Ferrari and ahead of Williams' Alex Albon who beat both McLarens and Alonso in the Aston Martin.

Krack said of his team's race at Monza: "Scoring a couple of points with Fernando was little consolation for a tricky weekend in Monza.

"Maybe with a few more laps we could have challenged Lando [Norris] and Alex [Albon], but there were not too many opportunities available," he added.

"Lance did a good job today," he claimed of the Canadian who qualified last at Monza. "He moved ahead of the Haas and Alpine drivers, but he suffered with the tyres dropping off in the final part of the race.

"We always knew that Monza would not be a particularly kind track to us and we have to take today's lessons into AMR24. We will work hard to be back in a more competitive position in Singapore," Krack maintained.

Alonso worked hard to finish the race ninth, he reflected: "It was a very difficult race today and it was one of the most physically challenging of the year.

"We will take many lessons from this weekend and look to be better next time. I had some hope we might be able to catch Lewis [Hamilton] when he had the penalty, but as soon as he passed Alex [Albon] I knew it would be difficult.

"Ferrari has unfortunately jumped us in the Constructors' Championship after this result, so we need to bounce back at the next race. There are still a lot of races and points left in the Championship," the Spaniard concluded.

As for Stroll, he said after finishing 16th: "The car didn't have the pace we needed today, so it was a tough race to manage.

"We tried to do something slightly different with the strategy and only stopped once, but the tyres were falling off towards the end of the stint, so I wasn't able to hold position.

It's been a difficult weekend for us, so we have some work to do before we head to Singapore in a couple of weeks," he concluded.

Aston Martin left Monza having dropped one place in the 2023 F1 Constructors' Standings and are now fourth, 11 points behind Ferrari, but are still 102 points ahead of McLaren who are fifth.