Aston Martin’s brutal admission about worrying development trend

Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell has admitted his side fell short with their development during the 2024 F1 season.

The Silverstone-based outfit began 2023 as Red Bull’s nearest challengers after a stunning winter transformation, with Fernando Alonso taking eight podiums across the campaign.

While Aston Martin held onto fifth place in the constructors’ championship last term, their performance regressed, with Alonso and Lance Stroll managing no podiums and only scoring 94 points compared to their haul of 280 from 2023.

Aston Martin have also struggled to improve their F1 cars during the season for the last two years in a row, something which Cowell, who was appointed team principal last week as part of an organisational restructure, conceded has been a weakness.

Dan Fallows was removed from his position as technical director late last year in the wake of this concerning trend. 

"There is no lack of effort throughout the team,” Cowell told the official Aston Martin website.

“We definitely won the World Championship for the most updates in 2024, but those updates didn't deliver the laptime – and what everybody wants in this business is to deliver laptime.

"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 per cent success rate is high.

“If we can get a 20 per cent 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 have already moved into a brand new campus and have a state-of-the-art wind tunnel which should be online in 2026. 

But Cowell said there is room to improve with the tools the team already has available.

"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 per cent 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 but 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 per cent 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.”

2026 not the sole focus for Aston Martin

Aston Martin have bold ambitions of becoming championship challengers in the years ahead and see new engine and design regulation changes in 2026 as a huge opportunity to take a step towards the front of the grid.

The recruitment of legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey from Red Bull and chief technical officer Enrico Cardile from Ferrari are set to strengthen the team’s design office this year.

Aston Martin will also take over Honda engines from Red Bull at the start of 2026.

“2026 is a huge opportunity for us but it’s not just about ’26, it’s about ’27 and ’28 and ’29 and ’30. It’s about building a team that can achieve sustained success,” Cowell insisted.

“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.”