“Why should there be no good news?” As Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack welcomed the media in the Shanghai Formula 1 paddock, his tongue-in-cheek opening comment set the tone of the ensuing conversation. There remained a lot of explaining to do for Krack alongside Honda’s trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara, after Fernando Alonso retired from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last weekend while Lance Stroll finished 15 laps down and therefore was not classi...

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