Jefferson Slack, Managing Director, Commercial and Marketing at Aston Martin has called the Formula 1 team’s CEO Andy Cowell “absolutely critical for our future.”
Cowell returned to the F1 fold last October, succeeding Martin Whitmarsh as CEO of the Aston Martin squad and he has been tasked with leading the Silverstone-based outfit forward.
His experience in the sport is vast and his championship-winning mentality is clear for all to see having spearheaded the Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains division from 2013 to 2020, having worked with the Silver Arrows since 2004.
Slack, responsible for driving Aston Martin’s commercial success spoke exclusively with Motorsport Week and sang the praises of his technical counterpart Cowell.
“Not being a Formula 1 guy, certainly not being a technical person, people that are technical and in the sport will have known Andy, many of whom have worked with Andy, I didn’t have any of those experiences because it just wasn’t my background, so I didn’t know Andy until a few months ago, but I can tell you that I am supremely impressed,” Slack said.
“He’s got the technical knowledge, again, I’m not a good person to judge on that, but you can see that that’s clear, he’s got the human element, he’s got the leadership, he’s decisive, but he’s also very fair and deals with people in a very good way, and I think he is absolutely critical to our future.”
Slack hails Cowell’s leadership changes at Aston Martin
Aston Martin has started 2025 having made key leadership changes, splitting car development across trackside and factory-based departments.
This has been brought about by Cowell, who has assumed the role of Team Principal, moving Mike Krack into the position of Chief Trackside Officer and entrusting Chief Technical Officer Enrico Cardile with leading factory-based development.
Slack praised Cowell for making those changes after a long period of assessment.
“I think the changes that [Cowell] has made, they weren’t, you know, seat of the pants changes, they were done after studying what could make us a more efficient team,” he said.
“Again, it’s not my area, but what I understand is we haven’t been great at developing the car in the last couple of seasons, part of that might be the fact that people that were travelling to 24 races were technically, in theory, also responsible for car development, and that’s really hard to do and I think other teams are structured in the way that Andy’s moved.
“So I think it’s just a natural part of how do you make this team, a great group of people, but how do you get a group of people that are at this incredible campus that we have, focus on long-term car development, while, you know, these guys are going to 24 races, can then deal with all this stuff that you have trackside.
“So I think that seems to make eminent sense, but Andy, you know, didn’t just do that seat of the pants when he started in October, he’s taken the time to understand that, and that’s been, I think, the natural evolution of the business, as we grow as a team, what he’s done.
“But I’ve been so impressed with Andy so far, and he’s also just, to be honest, just a really nice person to work with, which is important as well.”
READ MORE – Aston Martin names Andy Cowell as Team Principal as Mike Krack moved to revised role
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