Aston Martin wins “Championship for Most Updates”, but should focus on making them work

New Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell believes that although the Silverstone outfit “won the world championship for most updates” in 2024, it needs to work on its internal processes to ensure the new parts deliver the expected performance. Needed

Aston Martin started the season in reasonable position and scored points in the first seven Grands Prix, but at the Imola race an extensive series of updates – including a completely new floor, front wing, rear suspension geometry and sidepods – helped the car. Made more difficult. To drive.

This led to a largely barren encounter between Monaco and Spain, saved only by a 6–7 result in Montreal, as Aston’s previously locked-in position in the top 10 was now being challenged on a regular basis.

The amount of updates to the team throughout the season was not related to efficacy, with it being commented at times that the new parts were not adding much in the way of performance.

Cowell says the team should reconsider its approach, and ensure further validation work is done at the factory so the team can be more confident in its updates before the race weekend.

“There was no lack of effort throughout the team,” Cowell said. “We certainly won the world championship for the most updates in 2024, but those updates didn’t deliver laptimes – and everyone in this business wants to deliver laptimes.

“That doesn’t mean we should get it right every time. I’ve seen statistics that show that in a true R&D environment, a 20 percent success rate is high.

“If we can get a 20 per cent success rate then it is good, but the difference is that it has to be at the AMR Technology Campus and not at the track.

“We need to make sure that all our equipment and processes in the technology complex are working well enough so that whenever we take an update to a circuit, we are at least 90 percent certain that it is on track.” But it will work and our expectations will be fulfilled.

“It is not easy to achieve, but that is what we have to aim for. We have very powerful CFD tools and the most advanced wind tunnel in the game is coming online, but those are only simulations.

“There will always be a risk that the data doesn’t match what we find on the circuit, but our simulations can give us a strong lead and I’m confident we can get to the point where we are right 90 percent of the time.

“Teams that win world championships are operating at this level, so at least that should be our goal.”

Cowell, who joined the team as CEO before replacing Mike Craik as team principal after Luxembourg took a new role at the team, says that “building a team that wins world championships is our North Star”. , although he pointed to the idea that the team did not yet know how to reach that goal.

F1 is littered with aspirational goals to win; For example, Renault/alpine It also got confused by failing to navigate its own “five-year plan” and subsequent “100-race plan” under the old management.

Conversely, Cowell believes that setting his team the goal of winning titles will “expand” the team and give his staff something to buy into over the next few seasons.

“It’s okay to set a goal that you don’t know how to achieve when you first set out on a journey – a goal that people consider impossible in terms of both time and performance. It’s then a matter of breaking things down ,” Cowell explained.

“Everyone wants the fastest car, but the only way to achieve it is if you set goals that are really going to push you, that are extremely ambitious.

“That’s what we’re here to do – there’s no point in designing and building an F1 car that isn’t the fastest.

“Formula 1 is all about competitive talent. The people are the leaders in this sport. If you want to fulfill the ambition of becoming world champion you have to do that and that is our ambition.”