Aston Martin shocked F1 this year with its AMR23, the potential of which was rumoured to be huge even before a wheel had been turned at pre-season testing.
The whispers and murmurs up and down the paddock about its prowess were confirmed in Bahrain, with a rejuvenated Fernando Alonso taking the podium and an injured Lance Stroll sixth, the first of six rostrums for the former.
Aston's results amounted not just to an uptick in form, but a dramatic turnaround. It finished 2022 a lowly seventh in the championship, with outgoing Sebastian Vettel restricted to just 37 points in an anonymous farewell season, with Stroll stuck at just 18 points scored.
Owned by the hyper-ambitious Lawrence Stroll, the pressure started piling on the former Racing Point outfit as across the first half of 2022 Vettel and Stroll regularly struggled to make it out of Q1.
The Australian Grand Prix, where the pair qualified 18th and 20th respectively and Aston's only finisher Stroll nearly finished a lap down, proved a particular low point.
But rather than panicking or allowing a blame culture to seep through the walls of its Silverstone headquarters, team principal Krack explains how the squad kept its cool and embarked on a gradual programme to fight its way back in contention.
"The start was not great in 2022. I think after three races, we were the only team without the point, there was most of the pressure weighing on us," Krack said in an exclusive interview with Autosport.
"I remember very well on the flight from Melbourne, Tom [McCullough, performance director] and myself, we're sitting there saying, 'We need to keep this thing together', because if there is a high risk that the finger pointing starts and all that...
Source: Autosport