Fallows: Aston Martin benefitting from recruits across the paddock

After taking over the former Force India outfit owner Lawrence Stroll launched a major recruitment drive, taking Fallows and other key names from Red Bull Racing, as well as deputy technical director Eric Blandin from Mercedes, and engineering director Luca Furbatto from Alfa Romeo.

Fallows says the combination of newcomers from teams across the paddock and long-time members of the Silverstone outfit’s technical department is helping to bolster progress.

“We’re keen to learn from what other people do well,” said Fallows when asked by Autosport about the recruitment drive.

“And it’s something I’ve always found, when you recruit people there is always something you can learn that other teams are doing, but also we’ve been fortunate enough to recruit some very talented and experienced people who have their own ideas about what makes a car go fast.

“The nice thing is they’ve come into this environment very open-minded, very willing to forge their own way of doing things using that experience, that collective experience, to go our own way.”

Dan Fallows former Red Bull Racing Head of Aerodynamics celebrates on the podium

Photo by: Sutton Images

Fallows acknowledged that he has brought useful knowledge on how Red Bull Racing operates.

“There’s a number of reasons why Red Bull are good,” he said. “They’ve managed, over a period of years, to iron out issues in every aspect of the team, whether that be the race team, the manufacturing facilities, the design office, and a lot of building that kind of success is making sure there are no areas where you have substantial weaknesses.

“In many ways, I’m very proud that I was part of that on the engineering side. They’re an incredibly strong team, and I think that I do have that experience of what it means to win races and win championships.

“I think the key message is that you have to make sure that in every aspect of what you’re doing there are no holes, no things that you’re doing that can be compromising your performance as you go along.”

However, he stressed that in order to succeed Aston Martin can’t just follow what other top teams are doing if it wants to compete at the front.

“The important thing for us is to make sure we don’t just replicate what our competitors do. We don’t believe that is going to help us overtake the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.

“So we have to develop our own way of doing things. That does take time, but we’ve got a hugely ambitious group of people, and one of the things about seeing the new factory come together is it demonstrates this momentum, this wish to kind of accelerate the process of moving up the grid and getting into a winning situation.

“And I think that’s what’s really going to help us get there, this passion, this motivation and this belief we will get there eventually.”

Fallows confirmed that long time technical boss Andrew Green – whose history with the Silverstone outfit goes back to the first Jordan F1 car in 1991 – continues to play a key role.

“Andrew is still our chief technical officer, he’s very much involved. We are building a team, and that goes right through the grassroots from the designers through the aero department and into the senior technical team as well.

“Andrew has got a huge amount of experience, and he’s very good at bringing us together as a senior team as well. So one of my favourite roles that he does, he’s sort of sitting on my shoulder telling me time and again have you done this, have you done that?

“Where we’ve had maybe conversations we’ve needed to clarify how we’re going to work together in certain areas, he’s been fantastic at putting all that together. In that sort of oversight role, he’s been invaluable.”

Team principal Mike Krack said that the input of the new recruits was already seen in the progress the team made during the 2022 season.

“I think it’s a very impressive recovery,” he noted. “You clearly see the impact of people like Dan joining and others, mixing with the people who were there already.

“I think we have a lot of momentum, and you feel that spirit when you come in here. I think honestly, we have reason to believe we can continue on that path. So all good from that point of view.”