Aston Martin claims it holds no regrets over the “aggressive” development strategy the team deployed during the closing stages of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
The Silverstone-based squad amassed six podiums in the first eight races via Fernando Alonso to be in the frame for second place in the Constructors’ standings behind Red Bull.
But Aston Martin was swiftly outdeveloped by Ferrari and Mercedes once they both launched revised car concepts, while McLaren’s resurgence demoted it further.
Aston Martin dropped to fifth place in the championship and Team Principal Mike Krack admits the side was caught out by the “harsher development race” at the sharp end.
“After two or three races we were fighting in a completely different league of teams that are used to development races much more,” Krack admitted in Abu Dhabi.
“At the top there is a much harsher development race going on, so we knew that this was going to be a hard fight.
“It is probably easier to do this development when you are running in the midfield than when you’re running at the front.”
As part of its bid to reverse “side effects” from previous updates to the AMR23, Aston Martin rushed through a substantial upgrade package in time for the United States GP.
However, the British marque only completed 23 laps during the sole practice hour at the Circuit of the Americas, which contributed to it suffering a double Q1 exit in qualifying.
Aston Martin opted to withdraw both cars to the pit lane and conducted several tests across the next weekends, culminating in Alonso returning to the podium in Brazil.
Reflecting on its decision to bring new parts on a Sprint weekend, Aston Martin Performance Director Tom McCullough concedes the team was aware of the risks.
“We knew it was aggressive bringing some of the test parts we brought to Austin, which was a Sprint event, we then unfortunately operationally had some problems with brake temperatures and we didn’t get the most out of that session,” McCullough explained.
“That put us on the back foot with quite a different characteristic car to understand, which is why we ended up starting from the back and doing some big changes.
“Was it a bit too aggressive bringing those parts to a Sprint event? We discussed a lot about doing that – and if we had a clean free practice I think we would have said that was the best thing ever to do but we didn’t.”
