Aston Martin have announced the removal of the team principal, Mike Krack, who will be replaced by CEO Andy Cowell who will perform duel roles. Krack was appointed to lead the Silverstone based team following the dismissal of Otmar Schafnaeur who left to become team principal of Alpine back in January 2022.
For many the appointment of the Luxembourg born engineer who had spent his life working for the BMW racing programme, was surprising at the time. The AMR22 was conceived and built by Krack’s predecessor and it was the following season in 2023 the appointment of the new team boss appeared to be paying dividends.
Aston Martin had the second quickest car in the early season events, with Fernando Alonso claiming seven podiums across the first eight race weekends of the year. Yet under Krack, this was as good as it was to get, with the in season development inn 2023 failing to keep the team at the front of the grid.
Krack “interesting choice” of F1 team boss
Last year, Aston Martin were in a league of their own. Neither troubling the top four teams or in danger of being caught up in by the rest, although their later form during the closing stages of the year was of concern to the Silverstone team’s management.
Just two scoring finishes in the last six possible Grand Prix, saw Alonso and Stroll rack up just 8 points across the two triple header events scheduled. This was less than Alpine and Haas F1 with even the Racing Bulls having a more fruitful end to the year than Aston Martin. With the impending arrival of Adrian Newey as the team’s managing parter for all things technical, Andy Cowell has undertaken a root and branch analysis of the team’s structures and processes and it appears Krack’s abilities will be better utilised elsewhere in the business.
Mike Krack was an interesting choice as team boss for Aston Martin, having spent his entire career with BMW racing programmes. This began in F1 with Krack being appointed as Felipe Massa’s race engineer and eventually the role of chief engineer for the team.
He worked with a young Sebastian Vettel in testing right up to the young German’s debut in the 2007 US Grand Prix. Krack left the team in 2009 having disagreed over the plans to abandon a potential Robert Kubica title challenge in 2008 in favour of focusing on the 2009 car.
Troubleshooting roles for BMW
Short stints saw Mike at Kolles & Heinz Union in Formula Three, before he returned to BMW in October 2010 as chief engineer for their DTM programme. A brief stint with the Porsche endurance programme saw Krack achieve a modicum of success before he again returned to BMW in 2014.
Krack was parachuted into various programmes as a trouble shooter between 2014 and 2022 which included oversight of the Formula E, IMSA and GT programmes. By the time he was rectified by Aston Martin, Mike Krack had been out of Formula One for nigh on fifteen years. Running an F1 team is a huge step up form the kind of programmes Krack was used to and his last experience in in F1 was fourteen years earlier.
The F1 teams have changed beyond all recognition in that period of time, more than doubling the number of personnel and utilising ever increasing complex processes and procedures to plan and design their F1 cars. From the off Mike Krack failed impress with the media, unlike McLaren’s Andreas Stella and it was always a matter of time before he would be replaced.
Having joined Aston Martin in the autumn, Andy Cowell – former Mercedes V6 turbo hybrid design guru – has comnplketed an evaluation process and has decided the team needs a revamp in the way things are run.
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Ex-Mercedes engine guru new team principal
In what is described as a “flatter structure”, Cowell will fulfil the duel role of CEO and team principal with immediate effect. Krack is being hived off to where his previous experience at BMW was served best, taking responsibility for Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer. – his focus is on performance across the race team at each Grand Prix.
Other changes have been underway with the impending arrival of Adrian Newey. Aston Martin have poached Ferrari’s Enrico Cardile who will oversee the architecture, design and build of the Aston Martin F1 cars.
Reporting structures are shifting too, with the trackside and factory aerodynamics, engineering and performance teams into two separate entities. This has seen Tom McCullough move away from the F1 team into oversight of the expansion of Aston Martin’s broader racing activities.
Works team status looms for Aston
Speaking about the changes, Cowell said: “I have spent the last three months understanding and assessing our performance, and I’ve been incredibly impressed by the dedication, commitment and hard work of this team.
“With the completion of the AMR Technology Campus and our transition in 2026 to a full works team, alongside our strategic partners Honda and Aramco, we are on a journey to becoming a Championship-winning team.
“These organisational changes are a natural evolution of the multi-year plans that we have scheduled to make and I’m incredibly excited about the future.”
No more excuses for Stroll
The Aston Martin team management appears top heavy to some F1 observers, with one commentator recently saying: “I’d love to see how that plays out with the F1 budget.”
Another whimsically referenced the ever necessary excuses Krack was forced to make week in and out, when Lance Stroll was again no where near his team mate who is approaching his mid-forties. “Why can’t they just fire Krack, so he doesn’t have to die inside each time he has to point out what a great driver Sir Lancelot actually is?”
Mike Krack was a strange choice of team principal for many paddock observers given his lack of F1 senior team management experience and he will be better served working within a smaller working party within the organisation.
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