New team boss Cowell explains how he plans to change Aston Martin’s on-track fortunes

Andy Cowell has taken a moment to reflect on his first few months at Aston Martin, highlighting the importance of simply “talking to people and listening” as he sets about helping the squad climb the F1 pecking order.

Cowell arrived at Aston Martin in October last year as their Group CEO and, after a disappointing 2024 season, the former Mercedes engine guru recently took over from Mike Krack as Team Principal.

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In a wide-ranging interview with the official Aston Martin website, Cowell was asked about the outfit’s ambitions not always being reflected on the track, and how he is planning to change that going forward.

In response, he said: “My first task has been getting to know people. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to people: speaking to those within the business and those outside the business, such as our partners Aramco and Honda.

“My experience is all in power units, I don’t have direct experience of the world of aerodynamics or creating a Formula 1 car in its entirety, so that’s given me plenty of opportunity to ask lots of questions.

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“Just talking to people and listening. The listening part is the really important bit.

“It sounds so basic but it’s been crucial for me to get an understanding of who everyone is, what their roles are, how everything fits together, how the organisation is working, where things are working well and where things can be improved.”

During the same interview, Cowell explained how Aston Martin won the “World Championship for most updates” across the 2024 campaign, with many of these developments failing to hit the mark.

Since his arrival as Group CEO, Aston Martin have made further adjustments to their overall structure, including Dan Fallows stepping back as Technical Director and the aforementioned Krack being shifted to a Chief Trackside Officer role.

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Expanding on his recent assessments and organisational tweaks, Cowell continued: “The update the team brought to Austin for the United States Grand Prix last year provided a working example. It didn’t deliver the performance step expected.

“It’s been a case of digging deeper to understand why this happened and implementing changes so that when we bring our next update to the track, which will be our 2025 challenger at the season opener in Melbourne, we’re in a better position and it does deliver what we expect.”