Aston Martin eyeing 'aggressive' plan to fix 2023 weakness

Aston Martin is planning to go "aggressive" with its 2024 Formula 1 car in a bid to rectify a weakness that stalled progress in 2023.

The Silverstone-based squad started 2023 strongly with six podiums in the first eight races and were the nearest challengers to Red Bull, but fell back throughout the season as Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren all out-developed it.

After three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain, the team is satisfied that the new AMR24 machine is compliant and delivering what is expected of it, but Technical Director Dan Fallows wants the team to take a step forward in maintaining pace with the upgrades that are brought to the car.

Aston optimistic

"We are looking at quite an aggressive development plan, and we're most keen that we do compete in the in-season development [race]," Fallows told media including RacingNews365.

"That has been something that you absolutely have to do if you want to be a top team and that's what we want to do.

"Once we get to the first race, we'll get a idea of exactly where we are in the relative pecking order and then we'll know what targets we need to hit, but for us, it is all about: 'What is the gap to the fastest car, and how do we close that as soon as possible?'

"We've got two years left of this regulation set so there is still time for people to catch up [to Red Bull].

"We saw the field get a lot closer at the end of last season, it was starting to get very tight.

"I can't speak for what they're doing, but obviously they felt they needed to make a radical change and from our point of view, we were quite happy with the trajectory of the car towards the end of last season.

"We want to carry that on into this season, making sure that we have a good platform to develop through the season, which is what we're hoping for."