Tom McCullough, director of car development at Aston Martin, spoke about the preparations for the Singapore Grand Prix and the British team’s objectives for the final races of the season.
Question: The team comes to Singapore after scoring points in 16 consecutive Grand Prix races. How do you evaluate this performance?
Tom McCullough: Earning points sixteen times in a row is no easy task, and it’s easy to underestimate how difficult it is. The bottom line is that we fight against strong teams, and at the same time we continue to grow – we move to a new base and recruit new employees. Off the track we have a lot to worry about.
To finish first, you must finish first. The reliability of the car is one of our strengths, and the series of scores speaks of the skills of the team, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso. When the gaps in the battle for points are so minimal, it takes a lot of effort to achieve a result.
Question: There are fewer and fewer races left until the end of the season. Will the team continue to update the AMR23?
Tom McCullough: We have been following the same machine development process for 18 months. We will continue to bring new products to the track until the end of the year. Some new products have been in production for a while, and there will be even more by the time we get to the track.
The European part of the season is over, but we continue to bring new products, although this is not so easy in the away games. We must take the delivery time into account. For example, the team will continue to receive shipments until late Friday morning, and sometimes machine parts arrive even later. This is a real logistical challenge, as it is more difficult to bring parts to some countries, but we take this into account when planning.
Q: What goals does the team have for the final eight stages of the season?
Tom McCullough: The aim is to try to regain second place in the Constructors’ Championship. Given the fierce competition, this is a bold goal. Mercedes had several strong stages; Ferrari drove its strongest Grand Prix of the season in Monza. We hope to become more competitive when we return to high downforce circuits.
At this stage of the season the differences are minimal, so it all depends on who will bring more new products and have a better weekend.
Q: How will changes at the Marina Bay Circuit affect the race?
Tom McCullough: Unique tracks like those in Singapore and Japan offer unusual challenges, adding to the excitement of engineers and fans. In Singapore you never know when someone will crash into a wall, resulting in yellow flags, red flags or a safety car, so race preparation must take these increased risks into account.
You need to have a ready-made plan in advance, so we perform calculations for each lap of the race, whether the safety car will enter the track after that. A safety car is a common sight in Singapore, so you should always be prepared for it. The easiest option during a safety car is to go to the pits for new tires, but if you lose a lot of positions as a result, it will be a disaster.
In addition, the route configuration has changed. In the third sector, four slow corners have been deleted, which should reduce the load on the tires.
Question: How difficult is it to get used to the constant change of time zones during the Asian legs of the championship?
Tom McCullough: Since Singapore is in the night phase, we continue to live and sleep according to European time. The biggest challenge is getting back to the hotel at sunrise. Sometimes after qualifying it is tempting to think longer about additional scenarios for the race, which means that the return to the hotel takes place too late in daylight. This disrupts the sleep pattern.
We’re going to Japan early next week and there will already be time zone differences to deal with. At the same time, we still have a lot of work to do between races: to summarize the results of Singapore, to prepare for Japan. Due to the large amount of work, adrenaline keeps you awake and in good condition.
The problems will start after the Japanese Grand Prix, when we return to our own time zone. After many days in a row on the road, it is difficult to recover quickly physically and mentally.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
