The team is restructuring its technical staff and laying the groundwork for the 2026 season, which will be pivotal in shaping Aston Martin’s medium-term ambitions. Ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the team confirmed a leadership shake-up, with Fallows departing as technical director effective immediately after a season in which Aston Martin has slipped to the midfield.
Fallows joined Aston Martin in April 2022 after the team made significant efforts to bring him from Red Bull, where he had risen through the ranks to become one of the heads of the aerodynamics department. Aston Martin had high hopes for him, immediately appointing him as technical director while continuing to strengthen its team by recruiting other high-profile engineers from rival teams.
Under Dan Fallows’ guidance, Aston Martin enjoyed a strong start to the 2023 season, securing seven podium finishes in the first half of the championship and occasionally positioning itself as the second force on the grid. However, challenges in keeping pace with competitors became apparent mid-season, and the decline carried over into 2024. The team has now found itself embroiled in midfield battles, with the top teams further away than they were a year ago.
Fallows’ departure due to underwhelming results
These difficulties led to Dan Fallows’ departure as technical director, as the AMR24 failed to meet expectations in 2024. “The team’s performance this year has not been at the level we all wanted. We didn’t achieve our goals, and this was a decision made by the team,” said Tom McCullough, one of Aston Martin’s technical leads, explaining the change. For now, Fallows will remain within the organization in another capacity.
“I’ve worked alongside Dan for the past two or three years. He had a big impact on the development of the 2022 and 2023 cars, and he brought a lot to the team. It’s been enjoyable working with him. But ultimately, during 2024, we didn’t achieve the results we expected on the track, and the decision was made to change direction,” McCullough added.
For the time being, there is no direct replacement for Fallows, with his responsibilities distributed among the team. Bob Bell, who joined Aston Martin in April, will continue to oversee the technical department, with Luca Furbatto, Tom McCullough, and Eric Blandin reporting directly to him.
Stroll: “Development stalled for 18 months”
Fallows’ exit is primarily attributed to the team’s lack of progress over the past 18 months. Instead of making a leap forward, the car has effectively fallen behind its midfield rivals. According to Lance Stroll, the 2024 car has a significantly different foundation from the 2023 model, but the primary issue is its lack of speed, with data also revealing regressions in certain areas.
“The car is very different from last year, but it’s a relative game. We’re just not fast enough compared to the competition. At the start of the year, we were scoring points most weekends or fighting for the top 10, but as others developed their cars, we didn’t get faster. I think our car isn’t actually faster. The numbers show it’s better in some areas, worse in others, and in the end, it’s been the same story with everything we’ve brought to the car this year,” the Canadian driver explained.
Stroll isn’t entirely surprised by Fallows’ departure, acknowledging that while the technical director was instrumental in the team’s growth between 2022 and early 2023, development has flatlined since: “Dan did a lot for the team, taking us from where we were in 2022 to fighting for the top five in the first half of 2023,” Stroll said.
“However, since then, there hasn’t been any development on the car. It’s like the development plateaued. I’m grateful for many of the things Dan did, but I also understand it’s been really tough for him and the team over the past 18 months. We didn’t manage to extract performance from the car, and unfortunately, that’s how these things go.”
The fundamental issue, as confirmed by McCullough, is that not only has the car failed to make performance gains, but it has also become harder to drive: “Yes, I think this year we made the car harder to drive. In our pursuit of performance, we made the car more challenging for the drivers. We’ve struggled a bit with bouncing, which has made it unpredictable at times for the drivers.”
In Las Vegas with the floor debuted in Suzuka
Stroll highlighted some of the areas needing immediate attention, such as ride height management and performance in low-speed corners. Bouncing remains an issue, as evidenced in Brazil. The car runs relatively stiff and low to the ground, which helps performance on high-speed sections, but low-speed segments remain a weakness. This is a stark contrast to 2023 when low-speed cornering was a strength.
“I think we need to improve the ride height management and the car’s behavior in low-speed corners. In faster corners, we’ve been more competitive than in slower ones. Just look at the data we’ve collected throughout the season. Low-speed corners are where we’ve struggled the most. It’s quite different from last year,” Stroll said.
Aston Martin has employed two distinct floor concepts this season, an unusual strategy for an F1 team, alternating designs depending on circuit characteristics. At Austin, the team tested an experimental hybrid floor concept, but results were mixed, as explained in recent weeks.
“We have two different floor types, one more effective at low speeds, the other at high speeds, and we alternate them based on the track. Ideally, we’d have one floor that does it all, but we haven’t managed that yet. That’s obviously the goal for the start of next year,” McCullough added, noting that producing different specifications also impacts the budget. For Las Vegas, a track requiring a setup focused on slow corners and rear-end stability, the team will use the floor that debuted in Suzuka back in April, which has performed best in those conditions.
Leave a Reply