Aston Martin F1 changes reveal past mistakes and future ambitions
FINAL CORNER, CHEQUERED FLAG: The groundwork is being laid for an exciting step forward at Aston Martin
Aston Martin’s reshuffle behind the scenes is an admission of a disastrous F1 season for the team.
The Silverstone-based outfit were the surprise package of the 2023 campaign, immediately jumping up the order with a podium at the first race in Bahrain with Fernando Alonso. The two-time champion finally returned to the front of the grid after years in the wilderness, and it was a genuinely feel-good story that the sport needed during Red Bull’s most dominant phase. More podiums followed in the next several races, with the Spaniard also coming close to a pole position and possibly even a win in Monaco.
But the first warning signs appeared not long after, and the car dropped down the pack almost as quickly as it had shot to the front. A return to the podium in Brazil rounded off the year on a positive note, but 2024 has seen nowhere near the same highs as 12 months ago — the team might still be fifth in the standings but they’ve earned less than one third of the same amount of points, with three races to go.
Aston Martin have failed to achieve a podium at all this season, and have now gone three races without even scoring a single point. Lance Stroll’s last top 10 finish came in Hungary, before the summer break, and Alonso hasn’t been inside the top six since Azerbaijan. While the team did start off the year with a decent car that could compete with Mercedes and McLaren, they have now found themselves competing with Sauber outside the points.
This led to the news this week that Dan Fallows has been removed from his role as technical director. Andy Cowell replaced Martin Whitmarsh as CEO of the F1 team earlier this year, and this is a sure sign that he is now looking to right the ship by making a major change in the technical leadership. While Fallows will remain with Aston Martin, he is no longer in such an important capacity.
Fallows was seen as a real coup when he arrived from Red Bull, and he earned a lot of credit for the design of the successful 2023 car. However, there is no hiding from the backwards steps they have taken in the last 18 months and a change felt inevitable.
The other big developments behind the scenes at the British manufacturer took place earlier this year, with Adrian Newey being announced as a new member, joining in March 2025.
Newey is perhaps the sport’s most famous aerodynamicist, and his arrival is a massively exciting development. But getting to work on reshaping the team before he officially joins is a positive step for Aston Martin. While it’s likely the 2025 season will be a transitional one — the 2026 regulation change will be of far greater importance — the sooner they start working on rebuilding the team the better.
The brand new factory that Lawrence Stroll has heavily invested in getting built is complete, and the shiny new wind tunnel is almost online as well. Having these tools up and running like clockwork before Newey even steps in the door should allow him to quickly make an impact.
Teams cannot officially start work on the 2026 cars until 1 January, but Aston Martin are not going to wait around for Newey to show up in March before putting some design ideas together. Moving on Fallows now gets ahead of the work that will need to be done in those couple of months prior to Newey’s arrival.
Enrico Cardile is another major new addition that will be joining the team in 2025, with the Italian taking on the role of Chief Technical Officer. This will be an important leadership role, and he will likely play a key role in the design of the 2026 challenger. Moving on from Fallows helps ease any concerns that there could be too many cooks in the kitchen at the Silverstone factory.
Cowell is in charge of putting together a group that can win championships. He has a wealth of F1 experience, and was heavily involved in the Mercedes project during their time as the dominant force in the sport, working particularly on the engine side.
The 2026 campaign will be a massively important one for Aston Martin, as it will be the first car built under new regulations by this Newey/Cardile-led team, as well as the new state-of-the-art wind tunnel. It will also be the first car designed with the Honda engine, with the Japanese manufacturer getting on board as well.
Honda enjoyed great success working with Newey at Red Bull, where they won the 2021 driver’s championship together with Max Verstappen. However, Alonso’s own experience with the power unit maker was not so strong, and that history will act as a reminder of what can go wrong when poor communication and planning mix in F1.
These first steps to change direction are an exciting path forward for the team. The 2025 campaign might be more of the same for Aston Martin, but the groundwork is now being laid for a serious rise back up the pack in 2026.
Prediction corner
Aston Martin will finish in the top 3 of the 2026 Constructors Standings, scoring multiple podiums on the way.
Quote of the week
"I would like to thank Dan for his contribution to Aston Martin in the last two years,” wrote Cowell on the team’s website.
“Dan led the team to the success of the AMR23 which secured eight podiums last season."
Not exactly glowing in praise.
Race reviews - Mexico & Brazil
Mexico brought us a nice feel-good victory with Sainz, while Norris gained a psychological victory on title rival Verstappen.
The height of the action unfolded in the opening stages, the apex being Norris and Verstappen’s battle coming to blows at turn 4 and turn 8, but things were fairly quiet after this. 2/5.
Meanwhile, Brazil was action packed from the word go, giving us a fun sprint and an even more exciting Grand Prix.
Verstappen dealt a massive blow to Norris, responding well to the post-Mexico criticism to give us one of his best wins, while Alpine smashed it out of the park to pick up the other two podium places.
The red flag did lead to an anti-climactic final 20 laps or so, but it was an unpredictable and thrilling race up to that point. 4/5.
Driver Power Rankings - Mexico & Brazil
This is an impossible one for me to judge, almost to the point of splitting up the results in two.
Verstappen was obviously superb in Brazil, but his driving in Mexico was downright dangerous, and did rub me the wrong way. Nevertheless, he still earned top spot despite his reckless manoeuvres against Norris.
Norris drove well in Mexico, and had a solid performance in Brazil before he unravelled at the end, leading to further question marks over his ability at this level.
Kevin Magnussen’s high score here is partially due to him only having one race, giving him a better average than his competitors as he missed out on the difficult Brazil conditions.
Gasly and Ocon both score highly here too despite a difficult Mexico, particularly for Ocon, as they were both excellent under immense pressure in Interlagos.
Sainz may have won in Mexico, but Leclerc’s worse performance there was far better than the Spaniard’s disastrous Brazil showing, putting him behind his teammate once again.