Aston Martin make claim over Red Bull F1 gap

Aston Martin Performance Director Tom McCullough has suggested that Red Bull can be caught amid its strong start to the campaign.

The Milton Keynes-based squad scored a duo of 1-2 finishes at the opening two rounds of the year in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively.

The powerful commencement to the season follows its dominant campaign last year that saw it win 21 out of the 22 races held.

Aston Martin too enjoyed a successful 2023 term as it bagged eight podiums with Fernando Alonso en route to fifth in the Constructors' Championship, a leap of two places fr m the previous season.

However along with its direct rivals, it has not yet shown a consistent ability to fight Red Bull at the front of the field since the introduction of new technical regulations in 2022.

When asked by RacingNews365 if Red Bull can be reeled in, McCullough said: “I think everyone can be caught.

“Fundamentally, the development that we saw in McLaren’s in-season development last year was really impressive.

“Okay, it was from a poor baseline but even from there, it was very impressive. And I think that's been the focus through the winter.”

Aston Martin still building toward success

Aston Martin has invested heavily in its F1 project over the last number of years, setting up a brand new factory at Silverstone which consists of upgraded facilities.

McCullough suggested that Aston Martin is still too young a team to compete at the front of the field.

“We tried to give ourselves that platform and freedom to just keep developing,” he said.

“We don't want to stand still, nobody stands still. Red Bull doesn't have as much development time in the wind tunnel, etc.

“They're obviously a well-oiled big company with lots of people, been in a strong position for a long time.

“We're still in that phase of, as a team, growing, learning to work together, [there’s a] new factory, new premises, wind tunnel coming online and a new simulator.

“There’s so much happening, but we still wanted to develop this car hard.

“I'd be disappointed if we haven't developed during the year to be closer than we are now. I feel we have that momentum at this stage.”