Can Aston Martin break away from the chasing pack and lead the pursuit of expected F1 pacesetters Red Bull in 2024? That’s going to be one of the most intriguing aspects of the coming season as the Silverstone outfit joins Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren in the battle to topple the team that has been dominant under the high-downforce regulations.

Aston has a strong case. In 2023 the green car was at times the second-fastest in the field – at least in the hands of Fernando Alonso – and the Spaniard logged eight podium finishes. However the fact that most of them were early in the year indicated the team lost its way, and failed to match rivals in the development race.

The eventual distant fifth-place finish in the constructors’ championship was arguably not fully representative of the car’s overall performance. Alonso was fourth in the drivers’ version, albeit by a slender margin over Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. Had his team-mate Lance Stroll come close to matching his form then Aston could have been ahead of McLaren, and within striking distance of Mercedes and Ferrari.

Much was learned as the team fought towards the sharp end of the grid on a regular basis, and that will be put to good use in 2024. However team principal Mike Krack knows that the challenge will not get any easier as others also continue to improve their packages.

“The first lesson that we learned last year was really how long it was, to be honest,” says Krack. “It might sound obvious. But if you look back, when you take the start of the season and the first couple of races, we were easily finishing on podiums, and others were basically nowhere. And you could see with developments how the pecking order changed.

“We will go into the longest season ever, with 24 races. We need to have a car that is usable in all conditions. I think we have identified the areas where we have to improve, and that has gone into development of the new car. So I think it should be universally more usable than the AMR23 was at times.”

With 24 races it’s inevitable that form in a close-knit field will ebb and flow. If you remember, even Red Bull dropped the ball in Singapore last year. The challenge is to be as consistent as possible, and not overreact on those weekends when it doesn’t come together, for whatever reasons. It’s about being on the right side of small margins.

“Especially towards the end of ’23, the field was closer, closer, closer together,” says Krack. “So this shows that you have to focus not only on performance, but also on operations, on traffic, on tyre management, having everything operating at 100% at all times. You cannot afford to lose a session, and you cannot afford to have poor reliability, because it puts you on the back foot.

“The combination of this many races, plus this super-close field, can open opportunities. But at the same time it could lead to a poor result here or there, just because you have not been on top of your game at all times. And I think it will get tighter and tighter the more we move over ’24.”

The AMR24 is the second car designed under the technical leadership of former Red Bull man Dan Fallows and his fellow recent recruits. Logic suggests that it should be a step ahead of the first as the newcomers continue to gel with Team Silverstone veterans, and processes are honed.

“As with everything new, continuity is always very, very important,” says Krack. “And I think the lessons we learned last year, we learned them together. You enjoy the highs, but it’s in the more difficult moments that you become better as a team.”

It’s also the first car designed and built in the impressive new Silverstone campus that the team moved into last year after long ago outgrowing the original Jordan base, where engineers worked in Portakabins stacked in the car park, and the aerodynamicists were at another site.

“When we moved in July we said it will be game-changing for some aspects of communication, of efficiency and logistics,” says Krack. “And this has proven to be the case. We now have much shorter routes, aero can speak to design, design can speak to production, within 10 minutes. And before you had to drive there, or you had to organise a Teams call.”

All of this is music to the ears of Alonso, whose decision to leave Alpine in 2022 now looks inspired. At the time sceptics suggested that he was motivated mainly by the financial aspects, but the Spaniard bought into what team owner Lawrence Stroll promised.

“The fact that Fernando believed in this project when he joined us is a compliment in the first place for Lawrence,” says Krack. “But then also for the rest of the team. Lawrence is super-passionate, he has put a lot in this team, and we have to be grateful for his visionary approach. He just wants to do the best and wants to be the best.

“And he managed to convince Fernando, and Fernando believes in this project, and that is very rewarding. But it is also motivating. If you have a driver of this calibre believing in your project, there are no questions asked. You know you can go full steam ahead, full focus, because everybody’s just fully on it.”

In other words Alonso has helped to give the team some collective self-confidence.

“Fernando brought a lot of energy –he’s leading by example”

“What Fernando brought was obviously a lot of energy at the beginning,” says Krack. “He’s leading by example, he’s there, he’s pushing, he’s asking, he’s making suggestions. And Lance has learned a lot from that, and has adopted a similar approach. It’s good to have drivers that push us.

“At the same time what is nice is how they work together. At all times, they exchange a lot, and they always come aligned, which is good, because we have only one direction to go. The other thing is how well they are integrated into the team. We are not drivers and team, we are really one big team. They are not focusing on beating each other, they are focusing on trying to fight the competition, and that is unique. I’m grateful for this maturity from both drivers, because I think other teams are suffering more with that.”

It’s easy to be critical of Stroll given his privileged position as the son of the team owner. He clearly struggled for pace against Alonso last year, but no one can deny the resolve he showed in bouncing back from his pre-season cycling crash injuries, as captured in the new series of Drive to Survive.

By the end of the year he was coming to terms with the AMR23, and getting him on a par with his team-mate remains a priority.

“The key lesson last year was to provide both drivers with the right tools”

“To be honest, we have all been working hard together,” says Krack. “We are trying to improve on every front. The key lesson last year was to provide both drivers with the right tools. We saw at the last three races that if we provide the car that they can use to the maximum, the results are there. We had Lance third in Brazil in qualifying, and he had a couple of fifth places, there and in Las Vegas. We had a strong performance in Abu Dhabi.

“If a driver struggles, it is normally down to the team to fix it, because in 90% of the cases it’s an issue on the car or its characteristic. And that is something that we as a team need to do a better job at.”

While the current focus is on this season Aston looks well set for 2026 and beyond. Honda is coming as a full works power unit partner, and the team will make its own gearbox for the first time in many years, and no longer rely on a rear suspension package bought from Mercedes. The AMR26 will also be the first product of the on-site wind tunnel, which should be operational in early 2025.

Stroll Sr has made no secret of his desire to win the world championship, and that might have seemed a little trite just a couple of years ago. However as the pieces fall into place he has to be taken seriously. “Lawrence wants results,” says Krack. “But Lawrence provides us with all the tools that we need. If you look at what has been put up here within the space of two years, it’s just incredible. And it shows the vision and the ambition that he has.

“We have to consider ourselves fortunate to work in this team, with someone that is providing us with all the tools that you need. If you see other teams, they struggle to invest, they have to put investors in, get the correct backing. What we have here is someone that is 100% focused on making this the best team in F1 over the years to come.

“That is why you see me smile when I come to work in the morning, because we have such great possibilities here.”