New Aston Martin F1 boss explains organisational reshuffle

Newly-appointed Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell has shed light into a big organisational restructure ahead of the 2025 F1 season.

Last week Aston Martin announced Cowell would be taking on the role of team principal in addition to his position as chief executive officer with immediate effect.

The 55-year-old Briton has assumed the position from Mike Krack, who has been effectively demoted into a new trackside role focused on performance.

Tom McCullough, who previously led trackside operations under the title of performance director, is moving to a new role in the wider group.

Aston Martin described the changes as being designed to create a “flatter” leadership structure.

They came after Aston Martin finished fifth in the constructors’ championship for the second year running, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll only able to score 94 points compared to the 280 they amassed in a 2023 campaign which started off with the team emerging from the winter as Red Bull’s nearest challengers.

Cowell, who was Mercedes’ F1 engine guru during the Silver Arrows’ domination of the V6 hybrid era, said the changes came after spending months evaluating the team’s performance and working methods.

"The changes are designed to improve organisational clarity and race car performance,” Cowell explained in an interview on Aston Martin’s official website.

“That’s why we took the decision to evolve the Aerodynamics, Engineering and Performance Departments into separate, dedicated trackside and AMR Technology Campus-based teams.

"The trackside team will be led by Mike [Krack], who becomes the team's Chief Trackside Officer, and the latter will be led by Enrico [Cardile] in the role of Chief Technical Officer, with both reporting into me.

“This restructuring means Mike's team can focus on getting the maximum performance out of the car at every Grand Prix and Enrico's team can focus on the complex challenge of creating a new race car.”

Building a winning team is Aston Martin’s ‘North Star’

Aston Martin have set lofty ambitions of becoming title challengers in the coming seasons and are hoping to capitalise on F1’s new era of engine and design regulations which will be introduced in 2026.

Ambitious team owner Lawrence Stroll has pilled millions into the project, including the construction of a brand new campus at Silverstone which Aston Martin moved into in 2023.

A state-of-the-art wind tunnel should be operational by 2026, while Aston Martin have secured Honda as their exclusive power unit supplier from the same season.

Legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey is joining as managing technical partner in March, while former Ferrari chassis head Enrico Cardile will take up the position of chief technical officer.

"Building a World Championship-winning team is our North Star. Everything we discuss relates to what is needed to make this vision a reality,” Cowell said.

"My job is to work out what organisation is the right one to achieve this vision: Have we got the right structure? Have we got the right people in the right places? Have we got the right infrastructure? Is everyone pulling in the same direction and working as one cohesive unit?

"I set out the overarching targets for the executive leadership team and work with them to establish the path to reach these targets that are aimed at getting us to where we want to be. And I make sure we're prioritising the right things and working on things in the right order.

"Lawrence has put a huge amount of trust in me to lead this team to the front of the grid. It's very humbling and it's a great privilege."