F1 News: Aston Martin sets ambition to find "a better path" than Mercedes and Red Bull
Dan Fallows, Aston Martin's F1 Technical Director, has discussed some of his ideas and objectives the team is striving to achieve in the next few seasons.
Vast investment has been injected into Aston Martin's ambitious F1 project, but this has failed to materialise in any notable improvements in results or performance.
This is not to dismiss their clear development throughout the 2022 campaign, but plenty of work lies ahead if the team is to contend for major honours.
One of the reasons for the high expectations surrounding Aston Martin ahead of last season was the team's success in poaching key staff from the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull.
Dan Fallows (former Chief Engineer at Red Bull) and Eric Blandin (former Chief Aerodynamicist at Mercedes) are the most obvious examples of Aston Martin's efforts in acquiring top talent from rivals.
Neither of these figures had the luxury of joining Aston Martin early enough to influence its 2022 package, so next year will be their first chance to more substantially direct development.
Dan Fallows has discussed the importance of Aston Martin innovating and differentiating itself from its rivals - whilst revealing the chemistry forming within the squad:
"I took on this challenge because I felt that things could be done differently.
"It's not about doing things the Red Bull way, or the Mercedes way, or the Ferrari way. It's about coming up with a better way - the Aston Martin way...
"Eric [Blandin] has obviously had quite a different experience recently, being at Ferrari and then Mercedes. So I think we were slightly unsure about whether our opinions had diverged on things.
"But we quickly found that we still have so much in common from a technical point of view.
"He's also really committed to the idea of not doing things in a Mercedes way or a Red Bull way and finding a better path instead."
The activity at Aston Martin is undoubtedly exciting, but there are still reasons to be sceptical of their chances for success.
F1's top three teams still enjoy a significant gap over the midfield pack, and there is no clear indication that this margin will be overturned anytime soon.
There is also the matter of Aston Martin's status as a customer team, which could limit their chances of competing against the manufacturer teams in the sport.
With that said, the 2023 season could be an opportunity for the British squad to surprise the field and use their wind tunnel time to take important strides forward.