Aston Martin boss Andy Cowell has revealed he is striving to build a team to achieve “sustained success” in Formula 1 upon the upcoming 2026 regulation switch.
Despite retaining fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship last term, Aston Martin logged 186 fewer points than it had accumulated in the previous campaign.
The Silverstone-based squad once again failed to capitalise on a promising baseline as more struggles with mid-season development saw it drop into the midfield.
Aston Martin’s alarming slump has prompted an internal restructuring, with Cowell, CEO since last June, taking charge as Mike Krack moves to a trackside position.
Cowell has admitted that one pressing matter that must be addressed is improving the dire success rate it has had with upgrades delivering tangible improvement.
“There is no lack of effort throughout the team,” said Cowell.
“We definitely won the World Championship for the most updates in 2024, but those updates didn’t deliver the lap time – and what everybody wants in this business is to deliver lap time.
“That’s not to say we must get it right every time. I’ve seen statistics that show that in true research and development environments, a 20% success rate is high.
“If we can get a 20% success rate then that’s good, but the difference is that this needs to happen at the AMR Technology Campus and not at the track.”
Aston Martin must utilise its facilities better
Lawrence Stroll’s bid to turn Aston Martin into a title-contending operation has seen him invest lucrative sums in expanding and renovating the team’s Silverstone base.
Cowell has acknowledged the British marque must utilise the modern facilities at its disposal to reduce the likelihood that it encounters correlation issues at the circuit.
“We need to make sure that all our tools and processes at the Technology Campus are working well enough to ensure that whenever we take an update to the circuit, we are at least 90% certain that it’s going to work on the track and meet our expectations,” he explained.
“It’s not easy to achieve, but it’s what we need to be aiming for. We’ve got very powerful CFD tools and the most advanced wind tunnel in the sport coming online.
“They are only simulations, there will always be the risk of data not quite matching up with what we find on the circuit, but our simulations can give us a robust steer and I’m confident we can get to the point where we’re right 90% of the time.
“That’s the level that world championship-winning teams are operating at so that needs to be our aim at a minimum.”
Aston Martin gunning for ‘sustained success’
The impending regulation change in 2026 is poised to provide a golden chance for sides like Aston Martin to bridge the sizeable gap that exists to the leading teams.
As such, Aston Martin has been tipped to place an earlier emphasis on next season, which will witness the team enter into a works engine partnership with Honda.
Cowell, though, has insisted that Aston Martin must work on sharpening up its processes in 2025 to be more prepared to hit the ground running once the rules reset.
“2026 is a huge opportunity for us but it’s not just about ’26, it’s about ’27 and ’28 and ’29 and ’30,” he added. “It’s about building a team that can achieve sustained success.
“Yes, ’26 is important but it’s just another step on the journey.
“2025 is also an important step on our journey and we are focused on improving our performance this year and carrying positive momentum into 2026.
“We mustn’t underestimate the scale of the challenge to bring all these elements together. We’ve got to make the transition from a customer team to a works team at the same time as the new regulations come into play, and we’ve got to design and manufacture our own gearbox along with other components of the car that have previously been supplied to us by Mercedes.”
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