Mike Krack hopes Aston Martin has put its season back on track.
After a surprisingly impressive performance and a string of podiums for Fernando Alonso in the first part of the season, the team admits to have slumped with some poor car developments more recently.
But with a new upgrade package on the green car at Zandvoort, Alonso returned to the podium on Sunday as Max Verstappen’s closest challenger.
Some, however, wonder if it was the 42-year-old’s vast experience and skills in the changeable conditions that really made the difference.
"You’ll have to ask the team bosses that when it comes to extending the contract for the future," Alonso smiled to DAZN. "Do you want youth or experience."
Boss Krack, however, is sure Aston Martin’s new upgrades were a success.
"I’m pretty happy that we were able to come back from our performance slump like this," he said.
"I wish I could say it for sure, but we need some more data for that. We’ll have to see at Monza, which is a very different circuit, but there are two or three races other races coming up where we can get more information."
What is clear is that, having earlier been Red Bull’s main challenger this year, Aston Martin is now being menaced by the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari.
Unlike those two teams, however, Aston Martin is determined to keep updating its 2023 car.
"We are not going to stop this season," Krack insisted. "We are going to continue developing and we have to reverse the trend that started in Austria.
"We got the fastest lap too (at Zandvoort) so it was very, very strong."
At the chequered flag, Alonso was less than 4 seconds behind Verstappen.
"It was close, it was close," said German Krack, "but we have to get closer next time.
"The people at the factory are really stepping on the gas. When we had those races in July, where our performance curve went down a bit, the lights in the factory never went out.
"We analysed everything and made new parts for Zandvoort, for Monza and in Singapore we’ll have more as well. We don’t want to let up now."