Bullish Aston Martin believe Red Bull are “absolutely beatable” in F1 2024

Aston Martin believe Red Bull are “absolutely beatable” during the upcoming 2024 F1 season due to the converging performance of the field.

Red Bull have secured all four world championship titles since new regulations were introduced in 2022 and produced the most dominant F1 season ever last year, winning 21 of the 22 races as Max Verstappen romped to his third consecutive drivers' crown.

Aston Martin started 2023 as Red Bull’s nearest challengers in the opening rounds before suffering a dip in competitiveness at the mid-point of the season.

But having seen some impressive gains made up and down the field, including McLaren’s stunning mid-season transformation, Aston Martin reckon Red Bull can be caught.

Aston Martin technical director Dan Fallows said the team are confident they have made a “good step” over the winter with their AMR24, which was unveiled on Monday at Silverstone.

“There’s still a lot of lap time to come and we take the approach that Red Bull are absolutely beatable,” Fallows, a former Red Bull employee, said.

“That’s what we are chasing after. We are focusing on them and that’s what we’re aiming for.”

He added: “We talk about Red Bull because they are the benchmark in terms of performance.

“Really for us, whoever is the fastest car is the focus for us. And that’s what we are looking at.

“Rather than thinking about individual races, from an engineering point of view, we have to make a car that’s capable of operating at any circuit and being competitive.

“That’s really what we’re focused on. Making a car that is usable and good for the drivers and that’s what we’ve really been trying to focus on.

“Those sort of competitive stats and how we get closer to Red Bull will come after that.

“If we put that performance on the car then we have given ourselves the opportunity to compete at that level, which is exactly what we want.”

Asked if he shares the same belief as Aston Martin’s technical director, Fernando Alonso replied: “It is a good thing he says that. It puts a smile on my face.

“We have to be optimistic at this part of the season. We saw last year as well that Ferrari finished really strong and achieved a few pole positions in the last part of the year.

“McLaren also did a huge step during the season and got close to Red Bull in a few races. So let’s see what happens.

“I think we have to be regularly in the points first, being a contender for podiums, as we did last year, and then if we are in that position, it would be lovely to achieve the first victory in green for Aston Martin and hopefully I can be behind the wheel at that moment.

“But I think we have to go step-by-step and it’s going to be very tight. There are going to be four or five teams within two tenths of a second this year, I bet.

“That will put you [either] fighting for podiums or fighting out of the top 10. So we need to be really focused on that.”