Tom McCullough summed up the Aston Martin season

Until the end of the season there were only two races – it’s time to recap. Tom McCullough, Aston Martin’s director of car development, appreciated the team’s performance in 2022 and shared his thoughts on next season.

Tom McCullough: “Before the start of the season we had two radically different options for the development of the car. In the beginning we went one way, but because of the build-up of the car on the straights, we switched to another. The car presented before the start of the season had a lot of potential, but we had to rethink the concept because we couldn’t get it to work the way we wanted.

The magnitude of the concept change cannot be underestimated. We’ve completely overhauled the cooling system, underbody, side pontoons, hood, brake lines, fins around the Halo, mirrors – it’s all changed.

We introduced these new items at the Spanish Grand Prix and have steadily improved since then. Before each race, the team brought minor updates that allowed the car to be improved. When we introduced the new concept we missed the maximum speed, but gradually we managed to add in this area – we saw the results of the work at the US Grand Prix.

The team has improved significantly this year. Many talented people have joined us, including CTO Dan Fallows and CTO Eric Blandin. They very easily found a common language with the team, which is reflected in the steady progress that has been made since their arrival.

All new hires are perfectly integrated and complement the team’s experience and knowledge, leading to the growth of new ideas. The important thing is that everyone works in the same direction. There is no longer a question “Where should we go?”, because we know the direction of movement. We didn’t give up and worked to improve the car for 2022 and set the right direction for 2023.

In the final stages we participated in Pirelli tests to see if it would be reasonable to lower the maximum tire temperature to +50C next season. The tires we tested in Austin took two, three or even four laps to warm up – until then they were useless.

Pirelli drew conclusions and in Mexico City the temperature of the thermal covers was increased – on a track with low grip and low tire load this solution worked quite well.

I think that in 2023 the maximum temperature will remain the same as this year – at +70C. A ban on the use of thermal covers is planned for 2024, but this already depends on the development of Pirelli. Tires must not only warm up quickly, but also maintain a stable temperature while keeping the degradation level low.

Next year we want to take the lead in the middle group of teams and then catch up with the frontrunners, but to achieve this goal we have to act aggressively. This year we tried to be as aggressive as possible, but it was difficult to do that given the budget constraints and the resources available. There are parts we would love to do, but couldn’t. For example, the front wing is almost the same as at the beginning of the season.

We would have done a lot, but we couldn’t afford to hit the budget cap, especially after a radical overhaul of the car in Barcelona. Formula 1 has partially changed and now you have to choose between efficiency and cost when developing new products.

In 2023 we need to combine all our ideas and lessons from this year to create a much better car. However, this is all relative as each team will do the same.

We believe we are on the right track and will be able to fine-tune the car for 2023 to offer consistent performance gains without changing the concept midway through the season.”