Stroll is now aiming to overcome any lingering disappointment from the previous season and regain the thrilling early success of last year.
Lawrence Stroll, the leader of Aston Martin, has set the benchmark for the F1 team in 2024, with a clear objective of ‘continuous progress’.
Aston Martin made a big impact in the early stages of last season, demonstrating impressive speed during pre-season testing and achieving six top-three finishes in the first eight Grand Prix races of the year.
This marked a significant improvement from 2021, as the team learned from Red Bull’s strategies regarding ground effect aerodynamics and handling downwash, placing them ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes initially.
However, the latter part of the season witnessed a decline, with ineffective upgrades causing the team to lose ground to competitors, ultimately being overtaken by McLaren for P4 in the constructors’ standings.
Stroll is now aiming to overcome any remaining disappointment from the previous season and recapture the thrilling early success of last year.
“We would like to move up from fifth to fourth, third – whatever it may be,” Stroll stated at this week’s official car unveiling for the AMR24, emphasizing the objective as “simply to continue progressing.”
He noted that Aston Martin was in the process of modernizing its aging technical facilities at its Silverstone headquarters, preparing for a transition from customer Mercedes power units to becoming a full Honda engine partner in 2026.
“We are a young team. We have just moved into a new facility,” he explained. “Our wind tunnel, which will be ready in September of this year. We are the last team to be running without their own wind tunnel.”
“In 2026 we receive Honda power units, so we are on a journey to win,” he added. “But every year, it is about progression.”
Technical director Dan Fallows plays a crucial role in driving this progression, focusing on designing a car capable of competing at any circuit.
“We are really focused on finding lap time now from things that are smaller details, the more intricate elements of the floor and other parts of the car,” he explained.
Fallows, who worked at Red Bull alongside Adrian Newey, believes that surpassing Red Bull is attainable, highlighting them as the standard for performance.
The new Aston Martin will hit the track this week in Bahrain for the official three-day pre-season test, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll forming the driver lineup for the second consecutive season.
According to the Source formula1news.co.uk
