Former Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack has moved to temper Fernando Alonso’s increasingly downbeat assessment of the team’s form - insisting the situation is not as bad as it sounds.
Alonso labelled the AMR25 "the ninth fastest car" after scraping a single point for tenth in Austin, warning that Aston now sits "in no man’s land."
"The top four teams are in a different league," Alonso said. "Williams is in the middle. Haas were faster, Sauber I can’t even imagine, and Racing Bulls was behind us the whole race - they had a margin.
"Only Alpine is behind us. So with the ninth car we got a point. I’m happy with that."
The Spaniard, now clearly looking toward Adrian Newey’s 2026 car, added: "A point is better than nothing, but it’s fine. We have to get to Abu Dhabi as quickly as possible, and if we get a point in a race, it’s welcome."
However, Krack - who is now the team’s chief trackside officer - urged against excessive pessimism.
"I think we’re sometimes too self-critical," the Luxembourger said. "We also have to remember to celebrate the positive things."
Krack rejected the idea that Aston is near the back of the field. "We need to review these analyses in detail. Some use soft tyres, others medium, others hard - we need to look at the data before truly saying where we are in terms of pace," he said.
"If you’re overly self-critical every time you don’t win, it becomes a long 24 races. When you get a point or several, you have to take a break. And then, the next day, go back to striving for perfection."
Alonso, meanwhile, said Aston’s pattern of fading through race weekends remains worrying. "I was expecting a bit more," he admitted.
"If you start tenth, you expect ninth or eighth to be possible. Two fast cars retired in front of us. Finishing tenth wasn’t a very good race.
"On Friday we’re good, on Saturday a bit less, and on Sunday a bit less."
The double world champion also sounded uncertain about 2026, when Aston Martin will debut its own gearbox and partner with Honda. "We’ll have to wait and see," he told DAZN.
"We all start with doubts about whether we’ve taken the right path. We have new people, a new engine partner, and we’ll make a gearbox for the first time in 17 years. It will be a busier start than for other teams."