The joint arrivals of Adrian Newey and Ernesto Cardile at Aston Martin F1 led to a logical consequence: the departure of Dan Fallows from his position as technical director.
The former deputy of… Newey in Milton Keynes, pays for the lack of performance of Aston Martin F1, mired in repeated development problems. Since the start of 2023, it’s quite simple, the team has been on a downward slope.
Fallows has been “reassigned” to the Silverstone team. A polite word, not to say… placarded?
“The team's performance this year has not reached the level we all wanted. We were not up to the task. And it's basically a decision made by the team,” justified Tom McCullough, the team's performance director, to explain the decision.
“I've worked alongside Dan for two or three years since he's been here. I worked closely with him. He's had a very big impact on the development of the 2022 and 2023 cars. He's really brought a lot to the team, to be honest. ”
“From that point of view, it was nice to work with him. But at the end of the day, in 2024, we weren't on track at the level we knew we needed to be at and wanted to get to.”
“Developing these cars has been difficult and ultimately it's a performance-based industry, right? The team made the decision to make changes.”
In a period of regulatory stability, 2025 therefore promises to be as difficult as 2024 for Aston Martin F1.
But Tom McCullough refuses to take it easy and believes that Aston Martin F1 has learned from the mistakes it made over the past 18 months at least.
“I really think we have the car figured out, but the proof will be in the results, right? You know, living in a world of CFDs and wind tunnels is one thing. But seeing what the car actually does on the track is another thing.”
“But I think what we've learned this year puts us in a good position, although obviously we wish it had happened a little bit sooner.”
Reason for optimism for the director of Aston Martin F1: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll agree in their feedback.
“I think both drivers are pretty aligned in their feedback and the limitations of the car. They want a more efficient car. They want to fight for points every week and aim for the top of the table.”
“And when we don’t give them a car that can do that, they’re never satisfied, and we understand that’s difficult.”
“We have a lot of meetings with the drivers, either online or at the factory, to explain to them what we are doing, why we are doing it, what we have discovered. Keeping them informed, I think, is important.”
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