Aston Martin outline improvement needed to fight Red Bull

Aston Martin Performance Director Tom McCullough has stated that the squad must be “perfect” on a consistent basis in order to best World Champions Red Bull.

Red Bull enjoyed a highly dominant Formula 1 campaign last year, winning 21 out of the 22 Grands Prix staged.

Aston Martin commenced the year in strong fashion as it scored six podiums in the opening eight races, aiding its push to fifth in the Constructors' Championship - two positions higher than its 2022 result.

However, there were gremlins present during the campaign as its form dipped midway through the campaign when it was caught by rival teams.

The trackside operations of the SIlverstone-based squad have long been hailed as one of the best on the grid, stemming from the success it had under the Force India name while operating on a limited budget.

Speaking to media including RacingNews365, McCullough does not believe that aspect has changed since its transition to Aston Martin.

“I do think the team has generally executed weekends well in the past, we were very well known for that,” he said.

“Now we're obviously on top of that, trying to design and develop a car to go fight at the front.”

Fernando Alonso scored the majority of Aston Martin's points last year and secured eight podiums for the squad.

The Spaniard ended the season fourth in the Drivers' Championship while team-mate Lance Stroll was 10th.

Stroll suffered mechanical issues that forced him to retire in Saudi Arabia and Japan, with McCullough calling on the team to make consistency improvements to allow it to battle at the head of the field.

“These things do happen. We want to fight right at the front, you’ve got to be perfect weekend in, weekend out.

“That's the example made by Red Bull, from the reliability side, the operational side, they've not failed to win many races this year.

“That's just the standard we've got to get to. Rather than just focusing on one area, there are a lot of areas where we need to improve small margins just to be better.

“We know that if we give our drivers good cars, they will give us good results. That’s what we’ve got to focus on doing.”