Aston Martin remains bullish about the chances of being the Formula 1 team that catches Red Bull as it endeavours to close the gap with “good” development plans.
The Silverstone-based squad began last season as the surprise package as its revised AMR23 car in the hands of Fernando Alonso became a regular podium scorer.
However, Aston Martin’s competitiveness regressed once the development race commenced and the team slipped from second to fifth in the Constructors’ standings.
Despite retaining that standing in the nascent stages of 2024, Aston Martin had outlined its ambition with the AMR24 was to assemble a base that could be developed.
Aston Martin Performance Director Tom McCullough has reiterated that statement, citing McLaren’s remarkable revival last term as evidence of the progress possible.
“I think everyone can be caught up. If you look at the development we saw at McLaren last season, it was really impressive,” he acknowledged.
“That’s been the focus over the winter, to create a good platform for us to develop. We don’t want to stand still, nobody stands still.”
McCullough has pinpointed that Aston Martin’s gradual move into its new base shows that it’s still a “growing” team compared to a refined operation like Red Bull.
“Red Bull doesn’t have our development time in the wind tunnel,” he highlighted.
“They are obviously a very big and greased team, with a lot of people who have been in a strong position for a long time.
“We are still growing, learning to work together, with a new factory, new facilities, new wind tunnel up and running, new simulator, a lot of things have been happening lately, but we want to develop this car a lot.”
Although Alonso landed a fifth-place finish in Saudi Arabia last weekend, the Spaniard conceded that Aston Martin is lacking up to three-tenths on its rivals in race trim.
However, Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack has revealed that the side intends to introduce more sizeable upgrades once the European season begins at Imola.
While McCullough is aware the AMR24 represents “a different philosophy aerodynamically” to its predecessor, he is optimistic that its “development path is pretty good”.
“We have already brought some parts to Jeddah that have been a good step forward for the car. We never run the same specification from race to race, very rarely,” he explained.
“And at the moment, we’re at that stage where we can develop well with our development tools.
“So it’s about bringing those parts to the track as quickly as we can, [and] hopefully the car will continue to improve.”
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