The 2024 Formula 1 season has been at best a year of learning from Aston Martin and at worst, a campaign that highlights that they’re not ready to challenge for championships.
Lawrence Stroll has invested a serious amount of money in Aston Martin since initially investing in the team’s predecessor Racing Point.
Aston Martin now have a state-of-the-art facility where they can develop their cars and the factory is being improved all the time, with a new wind tunnel about to come online.
Stroll has also worked hard to make sure that Aston Martin will have the best possible personnel within the team going forward.
Adrian Newey is their marquee signing for 2025, but Enrico Cardile and Andy Cowell’s arrival can’t be underestimated either.
Among all of this positively, it’s impossible to ignore that Aston Martin have gone backwards this year.
| Position | Constructors’ Standings | Points |
| 1 |
McLaren Racing |
593 |
| 2 |
Scuderia Ferrari |
557 |
| 3 |
Red Bull Racing |
544 |
| 4 |
Mercedes-AMG Petronas |
382 |
| 5 |
Aston Martin F1 Team |
86 |
| 6 |
Alpine F1 Team |
49 |
| 7 |
Haas F1 Team |
46 |
| 8 |
Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team |
44 |
| 9 |
Williams F1 Team |
17 |
| 10 |
Sauber F1 Team |
0 |
The Silverstone-based team sit 5th in the Constructors’ Championship but arguably have the second-slowest car on the grid right now and will be looking over their shoulder at the likes of Alpine, Haas and RB for the rest of the campaign.
Technical expert and former designer Gary Anderson was speaking on The Race F1 Tech Show about all the mistakes Aston Martin have made this season.
Why Aston Martin’s development this season has been ‘absolutely stupid’
Talking about the problems Aston Martin have faced this year, Anderson said: “When Dan Fallows came, the 2023 car was very much a call it a green Red Bull.
“It was a Red Bull philosophy package and then again it’s the same old deal, now you’ve got to stand on your own two feet and take it further.
“That is always difficult. Now, these are two occasions where Aston Martin in my book have proven that they did use ideas from other cars, which everybody does, but you optimise it against your own parts.
“It’s disappointing for me that the company philosophy within Racing Point and now Aston Martin has been to allow that to happen. They haven’t been strong enough to stand on their own feet.
READ MORE: Giedo van der Garde claims £1.1bn-valued F1 team are ‘completely lost’ based on recent form
“More points of downforce, that’s what the management doesn’t understand, that a racing car will always push for.
“But a racing car has a human being inside of there, he needs to get confidence from how the car works.
“Any team that we see deviate and go off the beaten track, it’s because they’ve chased this downforce figure at the expense of drivability and that is just absolutely stupid. It’s been stupid for decades.
“It’s not just these regulations but it’s multiplied by these regulations.”
Aston Martin may have to change their driver line-up to achieve their ultimate goal
Team principal Mike Krack will know that things need to improve over the winter for Aston Martin to achieve their goals.
In theory, they should be one of the favourites when the regulations change in 2026, with Honda coming on board as their exclusive power unit supplier.
However, question marks over Lance Stroll remain as the Canadian has scored fewer points in the last 12 races than Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Guenther Steiner is concerned about Stroll and wonders whether he’s enjoying racing in F1 anymore.
Fernando Alonso is a legendary presence in Formula 1, but it will be hard for him to justify racing beyond the end of his current contract which expires at the end of 2026 if their prospects don’t improve.
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