Aston Martin boss Mike Krack believes F1 team principal position is ‘a bit overrated’

Aston Martin F1 team principal Mike Krack feels the role of F1 team principal is 'a bit overrated' given the amount of turnover in people holding that position.

Krack became the team principal at Aston Martin a little over a year ago in January 2022, replacing Otmar Szafnauer, who moved to Alpine.

Since then, Krack has seen many other team principals shuffle around and is now the fifth longest tenured boss in the paddock.

This statistic took the Luxembourgish engineer by surprise ahead of pre-season testing in Bahrain. He said:

"I was surprised about that as well, about how these things went, especially in the very, very short period of time. It shows also that the role of the team principal is maybe sometimes a bit overrated, because if you can change it so quickly and there is no big impact, it tells also something."

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"You can give this job to anyone" - Aston Martin F1 boss Mike Krack surprised by the way team principals change in the sport

Aston Martin F1 chief Mike Krack has admitted that he did not expect the manner in which team principals keep changing in the sport.

So much so that Krack feels the role of team principal is not as vital or crucial as it may appear, especially in the modern, decentralized structures that F1 teams operate in.

"It seems like you can give this job to anyone or to someone from another team. I'm surprised about the quick releases that we have seen. This I would not have expected. Other than that, we must not forget, F1 teams have developed into big organisations where the owners are not anymore the team principals."

Heading into the 2023 season, new team principals have been installed at Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, and Alfa Romeo. Not all of them come from the same background, as the Aston Martin boss pointed out.

"The whole sport, the whole organisation, takes a different way. Some have engineers as team principals, some have more an old-fashioned rule. But we shall see ultimately what is the way forward."

Following their P7 finish in the Constructors' Championship standings in 2022, Aston Martin will hope to take a step forward. They have a revamped driver line-up of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

The Canadian will not be available for team Silverstone during pre-season testing in Bahrain after suffering an injury while cycling. He will be replaced by reigning F2 world champion Felipe Drugovich over the course of the testing period.