Fernando alonso receives aston martin chief apology as lewis hamilton closes in

The Silverstone outfit’s meteoric rise up the order proved to be the headline story from pre-season testing, and Alonso backed up the potential of the AMR23 when the curtain raised on the

season in Bahrain. Alonso notched up five podiums in the opening six rounds of the season, giving Aston Martin a firm advantage over the rest of the field as they looked to consolidate P2 in

the constructor standings and hunt down the rampant Red Bull team.  Unfortunately for the Spanish driver, the past six races have delivered just a single podium and with team-mate Lance

Stroll failing to capitalise on the car’s performance during the early rounds of the campaign, the rest of the pack have closed in.  “The drivers, I have to say credit to both of them,”

Krack explained to _Formula1.com_. “Because it was a difficult situation when you are used to having a front-running car and then you start to slip back a little bit. It’s easy to get

destructive and it happened exactly the opposite so I’m really happy with the way that this has evolved.” Krack then made his apology to Alonso and Stroll, stating: “I’m really sorry for our

drivers that we have not maybe managed to keep up there but, rest assured, we will try everything to come back.” While Aston Martin are certainly suffering from the lofty ambitions created

by their own unexpected success, Krack’s apology is warranted. The team have scored just 76 points in the last six races, and a baffling strategy decision saw both drivers eliminated in Q2

in Belgium last time out. The team’s iron grip on P2 in the constructor standings has long since been surrendered with the team now 51 points behind Mercedes and just five ahead of Ferrari,

while the veteran Spaniard has seen his advantage over career-long rival Hamilton cut to just a single point heading into the summer break. With four teams now ahead of Aston Martin in terms

of development, Alonso is now scrapping over the lesser points-paying positions instead of podiums, making a top-three finish in the driver standings a near-impossible achievement, unless

the team regain their momentum.