Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell sees room for improvement in upgrades – Many new parts did not have the desired effect
“We won the world championship of most upgrades,” says Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell about the 2024 Formula One season. Despite many new parts, the team struggled and lost touch with teams like Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes. Therefore, according to the new string-puller of the 2025 racing team, it must be ensured that the upgrades to the car significantly improve performance.
The basis of the AMR24 seemed solid, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll regularly scoring points in the first seven races, the Spaniard finishing in the top 10 in all of them, and the Canadian scoring points twice. In Imola, there was a major upgrade, with the team introducing a new underfloor, front wing and side pod, as well as a new rear suspension. After that, the car was more difficult to drive.
Top 10 finishes were suddenly less frequent and Aston Martin fell back in the overall standings. Further upgrades followed, but these did not prove to be efficient as Aston Martin was no longer able to match the performances from the beginning of the season. The new parts did not bring the hoped-for success.
Team top, but the upgrades have to work
That’s why Cowell believes the team needs to rethink its approach. The upgrades need to be better validated before use to ensure that an increase in performance can actually be realized. This also helps to boost confidence in one’s work, because only when the simulations match the real data can the car be improved. There needs to be a correlation.
“It’s definitely not for a lack of effort from the team,” he says. ”We won the world championship for most upgrades in 2024, but they didn’t improve lap times, and that’s exactly what everyone in this business wants to achieve. That’s not to say that everything always has to work. I’ve seen in statistics and studies that a success rate of 20 percent is a high rate.”
“If we can get to 20 percent, that’s good, but it has to be in the AMR Technology Center and not on track. We need to make sure that all the tools and processes work well in the center so that we can be 90 percent sure that the upgrades will work on track and meet our expectations.”
Success rate must improve
“This is not easy to achieve, but it must be our goal,” continued Cowell. “We have powerful CFD tools and one of the most advanced wind tunnels, which will soon be used in sports. But these are just simulations. There is always a risk that the data will not match on the track. Nevertheless, the simulations can give us a good direction, and I think that we can achieve the 90 percent.”
According to Cowell, the teams competing for the title manage to achieve a higher success rate with their upgrades. “That has to be our minimum goal,” Cowell continues. The new team principal recently took over from Mike Krack, who has taken on a new role within the team. However, the new man at the wheel also knows that this is a process that takes time.
“It’s good to set a goal, even if the path to get there is not yet clear. First, you set the path, a goal that people think is unrealistic in terms of time and performance. Then you look at things. Everybody wants to have the fastest car, but the only way is to set targets that are challenging, maybe very challenging. That’s why we’re here, there’s no point in designing and building a car that isn’t the fastest. In Formula One, it’s about being innovative and becoming world champion. That’s our goal.”
