Aston Martin's Dan Fallows says the Formula 1 challenge he took on was "harder" than he expected, but has praised the team the experience they have. Fallows took control of the technical department in spring 2022 after leaving Red Bull, with the 2023 car set to be the first designed and built entirely under his leadership. During his time at Red Bull, Fallows was a lieutenant of Adrian Newey and became a part of the success the team enjoyed with Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of the 2010s. His appointment at Aston Martin comes as owner Lawrence Stroll embarks on a project to try and turn the Silverstone-based outfit into front-runners and ultimately championship contenders. They finished seventh in the 2022 standings following a significant upturn in performance later in the season and only missed out on sixth place on count back to Alfa Romeo, who had the highest finishing position in a Grand Prix (fifth at Imola compared to Aston's sixth.) While Fallows says the challenge has been harder than expected, he feels that the experience of the team has helped to "make things easier."
Fallows' Aston challenge
"I'm never satisfied, and I wouldn't say I delivered [in 2022], but unfortunately that comes with the territory," Fallows told media, including RacingNews365.com. "One of the things I was very excited about in joining the team was to join a different environment, a fledging organisation in many ways. "Even though the team has got a long history, it now has very different ambitions than maybe they've had before and that was a very exciting thing to be part of. "I was looking for a challenge and it certainly is a challenge, but it is a fact that everybody is embracing that challenge and using it as momentum to move forward, [which] is really exciting. "In some ways, it's harder [than I thought], but in [others], the quality and experience and technical knowledge of the people that are here has made some aspects of it much easier than I perhaps thought it would be."
Krack impressed by 2022 recovery
Aston Martin boss Mike Krack was also impressed by the recovery the team showed in 2022, having been badly off the pace with their launch-spec AMR22 machine. "It was an impressive recovery," he explained. "You can clearly see people joining and mixing with people that were already here, and [that has created] a lot of momentum. "You can feel that spirit when you come [into the factory]. "We have reason to believe that we can continue on that path [in 2023], so it is all good."
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