Aston Martin still gunning for ‘brave’ P2 target as more upgrades confirmed

Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough has said the team are looking to reclaim second place in the Constructors’ Championship come the end of the season.

Aston Martin fell to fourth behind Ferrari after the Scuderia took P3 and P4 respectively at Monza last time out, while Aston took just two points between them courtesy of a ninth place finish from Fernando Alonso – his joint-lowest result of the season.

But with some higher-downforce tracks to come as the season continues, the team are hopeful they will be able to fight nearer the front again as the year progresses.

Aston Martin still going for ‘brave’ target despite recent performance dip

Having started the season as the second quickest car on the grid, Aston Martin have gradually been caught up and overtaken on outright pace at certain circuits by Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren at more recent events.

This drop in competitiveness has seen them fall away from second in the Constructors’ standings, with Mercedes taking on that mantle, and Ferrari have now passed them in third.

There is still a long way to go in the season however, and McCullough revealed there are more new parts to come on the AMR23 that will help their cause between now and the end of the year.

“The target is to try to get back to second in the Constructors’ Championship,” McCullough said ahead of the weekend. “That’s a brave target, against some fierce competition.

“Mercedes have had a couple of strong events. Ferrari had their strongest event of the year at Monza, their home race; we’re hoping to be more competitive as we return to some of the higher-downforce tracks going forward.

“Margins are fine at this stage of the season and now it comes down to who can bring a few more developments to the track and who can execute the best weekends – operationally, and from the drivers’ side as well.”

PlanetF1.com建议

F1 2023: Head-to-head qualifying and race stats between team-mates

Revealed: 10 crazy F1 records that will never be broken again

On upgrades specifically, AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo have already confirmed significant update packages will be on their way at the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.

While McCullough did not state exactly at which races Aston Martin would be adding new parts to their car, he did say development work is not done just yet on their 2023 challenger.

“We’ve been on the same development path for 18 months,” he said. “Those philosophies haven’t really changed; we’re still bringing parts to the track between now and the end of the year.

“很多部分已经发布一段时间回一个d by the time we get to the track, more come along.

“Even though the European leg of the season has finished, we’re still bringing parts to the car.

“It’s not as easy to bring those parts to the track for flyaway races and we have to account for delivery time, but we will have late freight that arrives to the track all the way until Friday morning – sometimes spares of updated parts arrive even later than that.

“It can be a real logistical challenge and some countries are harder to deliver to than others – but it’s all well planned for.”

Read next:Toto Wolff reveals extent of previous Max Verstappen-Mercedes negotiations