Krack: 'If he didn't, what kind of driver is he?

Fernando Alonso was rather irritated over the team radio during the Japanese Grand Prix. He expressed his dissatisfaction with an early pit stop, which caused the competition to quickly reel him in on fresher tyres. Team boss Mike Krack did not care about the Spaniard's criticism and told Autosport that comments like this are actually motivating.

Alonso started at Suzuka on the softest tyre, which meant he had to make a pit stop early in the race. Opting for softs initially brought the Aston Martin driver to sixth but after his pit stop, he quickly fell back on older rubber. His team radio therefore spoke volumes: "You threw me to the lions by stopping that early. Unbelievable!"

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack has responded to Alonso's expressions, stating that this is a normal reaction. As such, he does not care much about his star driver's criticism. On the contrary, according to Krack, comments like this even work to motivate him.

"I think you can listen to the 20 drivers, and everybody’s really hard", Krack begins. "Everybody’s passionate. If the driver would not be doing something like that, what driver is it?" the Luxembourger wonders aloud. He therefore does not think Alonso's comments are a reason to panic: "I think, it’s fine. For us, we take it as a motivation, and it also opens up always a different view of things. So, absolutely fine."