Aston Martin has announced that Dan Fallows will vacate his current role as the team’s Technical Director this month in a move which could be the opening domino to a wider shake-up as it bids to arrest its ongoing rut in Formula 1.
The Silverstone-based squad celebrating consistent podiums has become a distant recollection as it has been unable to build on that marvellous start to the 2023 campaign.
Fernando Alonso’s arrival coincided with the AMR23 emerging as the closest challenger to the all-conquering Red Bull RB19, resulting in the Spaniard registering six top-three finishes in the opening eight races to have Aston Martin contesting second position.
However, the headline-grabbing results dried up as rivals Ferrari and Mercedes latched onto the downwash solution that Red Bull pioneered and Aston Martin had replicated.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s remarkable resurgence demoted Aston Martin even lower down the pecking order, with the team’s incorrect development direction accelerating its plight to a fifth-place finish.
Nevertheless, Alonso still managed to book two more appearances on the rostrum with impressive drives at Zandvoort and Interlagos to help Aston Martin accumulate 280 points, a 225-point increase on 2022.
Heading into the current campaign, Fallows was optimistic that the lessons obtained from a whirlwind 2023 had seen Aston Martin put in place a structure that would ensure it lasted the length of F1’s ever-evolving and relentless development race.
“We were very pleased with the step we’ve made over the winter; we think we have made a step on last year’s car, which is what we wanted,” Fallows told media including Motorsport Week at the AMR24 launch.
“But in truth, it is a short offseason, and we were developing things that were relevant for this year, quite late on into last season.
“So the main aim for us is really to make sure that this car is a good platform to put those developments on during the season.
“We’ve seen, particularly last season, but also the season before, the in-season development races is absolutely fierce.
“And we want to be as competitive in that as we have been going into the new season. So that’s what we’ve been really focused on is to make sure that we’ve got a good, stable basis for us to go and develop the car and keep those updates coming and keep the performance coming.”
But that optimism hasn’t translated to lap time as Aston Martin’s recent woes have contributed to the side’s “toughest” season.
Aston Martin’s dwindling competitiveness
The British marque’s campaign began on a promising note as Alonso was able to mix it with the frontrunners over a single lap. The two-time F1 champion wouldn’t have the hardware to remain ahead in the races, but it at least showed Aston Martin had the potential to be a threat up in the sharp end with an improved output from car upgrades.
However, Aston Martin’s roadmap has not delivered the expected gains as it has wound up in a bewildering development cul-de-sac.
Aston Martin’s much-anticipated initial update package at Imola aimed to reduce the gap to the leading quartet. Instead, it induced handling characteristics which made the AMR24 “more difficult to drive” to the point that the mercurial Alonso even endured an incident on its maiden outing.
That initial misstep has bestowed sizeable consequences since as Aston Martin’s strive to undo the damage has seen it stall, allowing the chasing pack to swallow it up. As the old adage goes in F1, a team standing still is one that is rapidly going backwards.
The teams encountering unintended consequences under the ground effect era have been a running theme. But Aston Martin has been the glaring example as, unlike others, it has been unable to address them.
Aston Martin supplied the greatest clue that it is lost at the previous round in Brazil as it reverted the AMR24 to the floor that was last run at the Japanese Grand Prix back in April.
That showcases how grave the situation has become as Aston Martin was ranked the second-slowest team behind a point-less Sauber throughout the recent triple-header.
Aston Martin, through Alonso, has scored a meagre 13 points in the seven rounds since the summer break, leaving the team reliant on the total that it amassed in the nascent events to stutter over the line to fifth place.
Not being able to sustain pace with established names like McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes in a close-fought battle at the top is a forgivable thing, but dropping behind Haas, RB and Williams is another.
That drastic decline and minimal signs that things will improve under his technical stewardship have cost Fallows his position.
Aston Martin making decisions with 2026 in mind
With teams prohibited from working on the impending 2026 regulations until next term, Aston Martin had to make the essential cutthroat choices now to guarantee that it doesn’t lose ground once that time comes.
The Aston Martin name wasn’t brought back into F1 to compete; it was revived with the intention of conquering the sport’s pinnacle.
Aston Martin will commence a works engine deal with Honda, which has powered Red Bull to multiple titles in recent times, in 2026, while it has also been able to entice star-studded technical names to bolster its ranks.
Enrico Cardile was tempted across from Ferrari, where he served as Technical Director, prior to the blockbuster news that Aston Martin has acquired design guru Adrian Newey, F1’s most decorated individual, to become the squad’s new Managing Technical Partner in March 2025.
To supplement all that incoming talent, billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll has invested mass sums in renovating the team’s headquarters with one clear target: to win.
But although that appeared an attainable target less than 18 months ago, the landscape has changed a lot since then.
An organisation expanding as quickly as Aston Martin has was bound to experience growing pains at some stage in its span. And the exploits that it produced in 2023, in hindsight, might’ve been a curse more than a blessing as it ballooned all expectations.
As Aston Martin boss Mike Krack has alluded to, the team’s competitiveness back then was, in some respects, a mirage as its more established outfits dropped the ball.
Nevertheless, the downturn has been too severe to ignore without serious changes being implemented. That has been entrusted to new Group CEO Andy Cowell, who garnered experience in how a championship-winning team should operate during his time heading Mercedes’ engine department when the marque dominated from 2014 to 2020.
Cowell’s inclusion in the press release to reveal the Fallows news indicates that he has been handed the reins to make the big decisions. Time will tell whether Aston Martin’s torrid 2024 will see him ring additional changes over the coming months.
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