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Dan Fallows’ once-illustrious run at Aston Martin F1 came to an ignominious end, as – a few months before Adrian Newey’s arrival at Silverstone – the team announced his removal as technical director.
As Newey’s right-hand man at Milton Keynes, Fallows had been a key contributor to RBR’s success in 2021 – before accepting Aston Martin F1’s offer of the position of technical director in April 2022.
Despite his impressive start at Aston, with five podiums with Fernando Alonso in the first 6 GPs of 2023, last year’s AMR23 car then began to lose ground in the development race against McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.
Worse still, this year’s AMR24 was never competitive, and the Silverstone team was unable to compete with McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari – and not even Mercedes, who are having another troubled season – at any of this year’s 21 GPs.
At the same time, all the AMR24 upgrades signed by Fallows this year did not bring the expected results. As a result, Aston Martin F1 dropped to 5th in the constructors’ standings, never quite making the leap that McLaren and Ferrari have made this year.
Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin AMR24 at the 2024 Brazilian GP
ASTON MARTIN F1 MEDIA
Nevertheless, the fact that he was removed immediately – and before the end of the year – raises questions, both about the timing of the decision and the fact that, as a former colleague of Newey, Fallows does not seem to fit into the new management structure that Aston is preparing in recent months.
This management structure now includes three very big names: the former technical director of Scuderia Ferrari Enrico Cardile (who will take over in 2025 as chief technical advisor of Aston Martin F1), the former director of the Mercedes HPP engine division Andy Cowell (who has already will take over as managing director of the Aston Martin group) and Adrian Newey (who will be managing technical partner of Aston Martin F1 from March 2025).
According to the English company’s announcement, Fallows will no longer be involved with the F1 team but will take up a different role within Aston Martin’s wider automotive group. Such moves, however, are usually the “anteroom” of an executive’s final departure from the company.
Aston Martin Group CEO Andy Cowell said: “I would like to thank Dan for his contribution to the Aston Martin Aramco the last two years. Dan led the team to its success AMR23, who secured 8 places on the podium last year”.
As for Fallows himself, among other things he said that “it’s time for me to hand over the baton, but I look forward to seeing the team’s future success, which I’m sure will come soon“.
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