Aston Martin Formula 1 Performance Director Tom McCullough has ruled out the team making the same sizeable step forward in 2024 it did at the beginning of last season.
McCullough also believes that the upcoming season “could be fantastic for the sport” as performance gaps close between the teams and the grid converges.
At a glance, McCullough’s optimism appears foolhardy as Red Bull just one all but one Grand Prix in 2023 as Max Verstappen romped away to a third straight Drivers’ title.
However, scratch beneath the surface and certain statistics show that closer competition could be on the horizon.
First off, behind Red Bull, the battle for best of the rest was constantly evolving, with Aston Martin, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes taking turns to be second-best, but McCullough points towards qualifying for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as the clearest evidence that convergence is well and truly occurring.
The Aston Martin Performance Director told Autosport, “If you look at the fact that there were eight teams in the top 10 and how close qualifying was, that’s phenomenal, isn’t it really?
“And it just shows you that with stable regulations there’s always an element of convergence.
“Some teams have developed really well this year, but I think they’d be the first to admit they started badly as well.
“So I think next year, it’s going to be fantastic for the sport.
“I think trackside execution is going to be important, and I don’t think the margins are going to be enormous.
“But everyone’s trying to get that extra 10-15-20 points [of downforce] more than everybody else because that just gives you the advantage on track.”
McCullough isn’t alone in his opinion, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown under the impression F1 is heading towards a competitive order akin to IndyCar in the coming years.
McCullough will be hoping his team is one of the ones battling toward the front in 2024 as the Silverstone-based squad is now in the mix with F1’s most competitive teams.
That has come courtesy of a massive rate of progression between 2022 and 2023 which saw the team in green emerge as Red Bull’s closest challenger at the start of last season, scoring six podiums in the first eight races.
As the year wore on, Aston Martin lost out in the development race and wound up being in McCullough’s mind as the “fourth fastest team,” en route to finishing fifth overall.
However, McCullough has ruled out as big a leap this offseason.
“Obviously, I think it’s helped when you weren’t as strong last season to make such a big jump,” he said.
“And if we were to make the same jump now, we’ll be well ahead of Red Bull, which is not going to happen!
“During last year we were developing the car, and by the end of the year, we were actually a lot closer to the fourth fastest team.
“So yes, we were closer to the front.
“But the jump wasn’t as big if you look at the end of 2022, really.”
After ruling out a massive leap in performance ahead of 2024, what does McCullough want from the AMR24?
“We’re trying to put a car together that you can take to all the tracks and just change the rear wing level, front wing level, and bang, be strong,” he answered.
“At the moment, we’re having to sort of change components a bit, whether the bias is towards low-speed, high-speed, efficiency, etc.
“So that’s why we’ve been changing some components from event to event.
“The aim next year is to have a car that you don’t need to do that as much, and the base level is just higher.
“I think the learning from the tests we’ve done with components, and also the physical track testing of certain parts, has given us really good knowledge to help develop the car.”
Aston Martin will unveil its 2024 car at its Silverstone headquarters on February 12.
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