Aston Martin target rivals senior personnel – Aston Martin were the talk of the F1 paddock early in 2023 with Fernando Alonso claiming six podiums in the first seven races. Much was made of the fact that the team had acquired the services of Dan Fallows as senior designer within the Red bull camp for a number of years.

Yet as the season wore on, the Silverstone squad slipped slowly down the pecking order to finish fifth in the team championship behind McLaren who scored just seventeen points in the first 8 races.

Team owner Lawrence Stroll has poured hundreds of millions into Aston Martin developing state of the art facilities at their Silverstone base. The new wind tunnel is due to come online this year and the team have been recruiting heavily, poaching staff from their rivals.

 

 

 

Aston Martin still ‘growing’

Whilst all the chatter has been over the ultimate destination of Adrian Newey, with Aston Martin believed to be in pole position, it is the other headline signings made the Stroll which have caught the eye.

The man credited with much of the dominance of the Mercedes V6 turbo hybrid power unit, Andy Cowell, announced recently he will be joining the team. Further, senior Ferrari engineer Enrico Cardile was named as its Technical Director just back in July.

Yet despite their beefed up technical department, team boss Mike Krack reveals the Silverstone based squad are not done yet and prepared to bolster its ranks further.

“We’re still in a period of growth – but I think we have to be open-minded and dynamic, in terms of personnel as well as car development,” Krack told Aston Martin’s website.

“This isn’t a sport that rewards consolidation. Obviously, that has to be constructed around a stable core.”

Williams mid-season driver swap for Antonelli

 

 

 

Never ending recruitment

Krack understands the team can’t sit on its laurels and that it takes time for incoming personnel to have an impact on results on track.

“You need to have routines and you need to have trust and establishing that trust can take a long time – but you should never sit back and say ‘we are fine’.

“There’s always a need to be looking at what you can do better, what you can change. Doesn’t necessarily mean you make that change – but you have to keep asking the question.”

Each time a new name is announced, Krack faces the same question: “‘Is that the last piece in the puzzle?’ It isn’t. It never is,” he said.

“We’ll continue to look at recruitment, because perhaps there’s somebody else out there that’s going to make us better.”

Meltdown within Red Bull: Verstappen breaks silence

 

 

 

Nurture growth from within

However, Mike recognises the importance of developing the staff already at Aston Martin: “I say ‘out there’. It’s important to never forget that we have a lot of talent within the team that we’re consistently trying to develop and bring up through the organisation

“You look outside because the organisation has to stay dynamic, has to be open to new perspectives.”

“But we need to give the team that’s already here the opportunity to mature, to express itself, to naturally migrate to areas of greater responsibility.”

Mike Krack believes the new state of the art facilities and brand new simulator mean Aston Martin going forward have the tools to fight at the front with the rest of the competition. 

RB boss hits back at Marko over Ricciardo

 

 

Italian media: Newey to Aston Martin CONFIRMED

 

 

 

 

Aston failed to improve

Asked whether Aston Martin’s venture is a work in process, Krack responded: “Very much so. But the same can be said of any F1 team – you’re constantly evolving, constantly finding ways to improve and get stronger.

“We’re expanding to the point of parity with the front-running teams in terms of numbers, and when the AMR Technology Campus is completed, we’ll have a best-in-class facility for making F1 cars that also provides a pleasant, inspiring and empowering environment in which to work, and a useful tool for recruitment that also hits all of our sustainability targets.”

The 2024 Aston Martin car has failed to deliver the success of its predecessor with the team claiming their highest finish in Saudi Arabia where Alonso managed a P5.

Ex-team boss Eddie Jordan believes Fernando Alonso is also off the pace, claiming “he’s nowhere near the level he thinks he can be at.”

Mercedes details changes responsible for Hamilton turnaround

 

 

 

Alonso demotivated?

Jordan argues Alonso’s motivation is based on whether he can fight towards the front and that his age old rivalry with Lewis Hamilton is at the front of the Spaniards mind.

“Because, for him in his mind, he’s every bit as good as Lewis [Hamilton],” says Jordan.

“He expected to be able to fight with Lewis this year and to be honest, that hasn’t happened and you can’t see it happening for the remainder of this year.

“So I also think about, psychologically, what goes on in these guy’s heads.”

Wolff reveals “hurt” from Hamilton decision

 

 

 

Stroll has the patience

Alonso has described the 2024 Aston Martin is “unpredictable” and “inconsistent”  but that the remaining development over the final ten races is important for the future direction of the 2025 car.

Mike Krack is not concerned about the apparent stall in progress of the team because he states Lawrence Stroll has the patience to wait for the results to come.

“Lawrence [Stroll] has been around this business for more than 20 years and he knows very well how other projects grew, and also how many projects failed,” he told Mirror Sport.

“I think that is a side that he does not want to be portrayed because it’s maybe not so spectacular. But he’s very knowledgeable, and he knows that you cannot change fortunes from one day to the next,” Krack concluded over the expectations from above.

Sticking point in Sainz’s deal with Williams

 

 

 

A non-corporate structure

Aston Martin like Red Bull retain a non-corporate structure and culture, something Krack believes is to their advantage.

“We are fortunate, we are not a corporate structure, we are not a corporate organisation, we have one man who can decide very fast. And if we can preserve that, it could be an asset.”

“There is pressure, there is high ambition, there are very, very ambitious targets. But there is also knowledge and understanding of the business of  Formula 1and that makes it a package that is credible,” the team principal concluded about the team’s future in the competition.

Perez complains publicly about Red Bull

 

 

 

Ricciardo dismisses Marko’s opinion

As Formula One headed into the summer break, the usual flurry of announcement away from the media spotlight were made. Red Bull Racing were set for showdown talks between Dr. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner over the future driver lineups for both teams.

Dr. Marko has been on his hobby horse for several weeks bigger up the Red Bull academy drivers and even suggesting retaining Daniel Ricciardo has now become pointless.

“Racing Bulls is a junior team. So it is logical that the shareholders would like to see Liam Lawson in the cockpit,” Marko told Kronen Zeitung. “Ricciardo should be two or three tenths faster than Yuki Tsunoda, but at the moment things are not going the way team boss Horner imagined,” Marko concluded in a dig at the Red Bull team boss… READ MORE

 

 

 

MORE F1 NEWS – Italian media: Newey to Aston Martin CONFIRMED

Adrian Newey joins Aston Martin: A strategic move in Formula One. The legendary designer’s new venture is to Aston Martin claims the Italian mainstream media. Adrian Newey, the iconic former Red Bull designer, has decided to join Aston Martin in a decision that will send shockwaves through the Formula One community if accurate.

As exclusively revealed by Italy’s Autosprint publication, Newey’s move will be announced in early September, once his contractual obligations with Red Bull have been completed. The deal, spearheaded by Canadian magnate Lawrence Stroll, promises to be one of the most lucrative and strategically significant in the sport’s recent history…READ MORE ON THIS STORY