Mike Krack, the ex BMW Motorsport Boss Is Aston Martin's New F1 boss

Krack will be reporting to Martin Whitmarsh and has the right blend of management, technical nuance

By Sahil Gupta

1 mins read

Published on January 17, 2022

Highlights

Krack was in charge of BMWs motorsport endeavours
He worked with Vettel in 2006 and 2007 when he was engineer
He even worked under McLarens Andreas Seidl at Porsche

Mike Krack the former Sauber engineer who worked with 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel in his early days has been handpicked as the successor to Otmar Szafnauer as the team principal of the Aston Martin F1 team. Krack who has been with BMW since 2014, led its motorsport efforts in Formula E and other motorsports and also worked at Porsche before that under McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl in its LMP1 program. Krack will be reporting in to Aston Martin technologies CEO Martin Whitmarsh, the former McLaren F1 team boss under whose tutelage, Lewis Hamilton won his first world title. "I have been working in motorsport for over 20 years, and worked in Formula One with Seb Vettel in 2006 and 2007 when I was a BMW-Sauber engineer and he was the team's test driver. Team Silverstone has always impressed me. It is full of talented people and real racers. That racer's culture and values are what is required to succeed in motorsport - I know that and my new colleagues know it, too. We will work incredibly hard. We want to win. Together, we will," he said of his appointment. 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel worked with Krack when he was a Sauber test driver "Having worked in very senior motorsport positions at both BMW and Porsche, backed by an engineering background in Formula 1 with Sauber, Mike possesses a blend of experience and expertise that makes him the ideal choice for us," said his new boss Martin Whitmarsh. "We are hiring brilliant new people every week. Our new factory build is coming along very well. We have a fantastic roster of superb sponsor-partners. "We are about to embark on year two of our five-year plan, the objective of which is to win Formula 1 World Championships. All the ingredients we require are coming together. Mike will play a central and leading role, reporting to Martin Whitmarsh and leading our technical and operational functions, our collective aim being to fulfil those lofty ambitions. We are on our way," said team owner and executive chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda, Lawrence Stroll. As for his predecessor, Szafnauer, all things point towards a role at Alpine which recently announced Marcin Budkowski has left his role as executive director of the team.