Aston Martin part ways with former technical director in low-key split

Having left the F1 team in late 2024, former technical director Dan Fallows is set to depart Aston Martin outright.

Fallows had moved positions within the Aston Martin organisation in November 2024, with the move coming after the team had announced the arrival of Adrian Newey as managing technical partner and shareholder.

Dan Fallows set to depart Aston Martin

Fallows had moved to Aston Martin in 2022, having worked closely alongside Newey at Red Bull as lead of the aerodynamics department on the designs of several race-winning cars and the championship-winning RB16B.

The signing, which Aston Martin had to wait for following a period of gardening leave, was considered a major coup for Lawrence Stroll’s team, and the team’s huge upturn in performance at the start of F1 2023 suggested that a new era was dawning for the Silverstone team.

However, overseeing the design of the AMR24 and AMR25 as technical director following the departure of former chief technical officer Andrew Green, Fallows departed his role as technical director in late 2024.

This confirmation was made weeks after the confirmation of Newey’s arrival at the Silverstone-based squad, with the imminent reunion of the pair at the F1 team thus stymied.

Fallows switched to work in Aston Martin’s Performance Technologies arm, but it’s understood the British engineer is set to leave the organisation outright in the near future.

The reasons for his departure have not been made clear, but it’s understood that the team’s diminishing performance levels during his time as technical director played a significant part in his initial role switch.

It’s also believed that Fallows’ rocky relationship with Newey, which deteriorated late in their time together at Red Bull, was also a contributing factor.

“I would like to thank Dan for his contribution to Aston Martin Aramco in the last two years,” said Andy Cowell, Aston Martin’s Group CEO and team boss, of Fallow’s switch last November.

“Dan led the team to the success of the AMR23, which secured eight podiums last season.”

Despite Fallows’ departure from the F1 team, Aston Martin’s engineering figureheads remain world-class, with Cowell leading a team with names such as Newey, Bob Bell, and Mike Krack overseeing development and performance, while the team continues to await the arrival of chief technical officer Enrico Cardile following a period of gardening leave from Ferrari.

Fallows self-published an article on SubStack on Thursday, outlining the pros and cons of working in F1, writing, “No team goes into each year’s championship saying that they want to come 7th.

“There is always a plan for world domination – if not this year then next, or the year after. Yes, we might be slow now but just watch us in the next 2-3 years.

“Clearly not everyone can achieve success, so that leaves a lot of teams with dented egos and disappointed sponsors. The pressure to do better is relentless. When you are doing well, the pressure to stay there is even greater.

“Good managers and leaders try their best to limit this pressure and focus it into motivation rather than stress. But it’s not easy, and when the car is doing badly, everyone feels it. The reality is that some people react to that well, and some others deal with it badly. Really badly.”

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