Aston Martin backed to be big movers of F1 2023 thanks to ‘secret weapon’

Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz has backed Aston Martin to put in an improved performance thanks to their “secret weapon” Dan Fallows.

Long-time Red Bull employee Fallows left his role as head of aerodynamics in 2022 to link up with Aston Martin and the AMR23 will be the first car he has had a major input in.

Perhaps Red Bull’s unwillingness to let him go is the biggest signal of how highly he is rated, with the Milton Keynes side taking Fallows to court over exactly how much notice period he would have to serve.

In the end, both parties agreed a departure date of April and since then, Fallows has been in charge of redesigning the Aston Martin way of working.

His presence has been described as a “secret weapon” for a constructor who has lofty future ambitions.

“[It was a] very good launch,” Kravitz told Sky Sports. “Very nicely done. No frills, just getting the drivers on. Hearing from Dan Fallows, the new technical director.

“Dan Fallows is their secret weapon. He’s come from Red Bull. He knows all the secrets from Red Bull, was part of a Red Bull tug of love, wasn’t he? They didn’t want to let him leave and they actually had to go [down the] legal [route] for a moment in order to allow him to move.”

Kravitz believes that with Fallows on board, Aston Martin will improve on their P7 finish of 2022 as they look to break into the midfield contenders.

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“Fallows wanted to leave to set up his own way of doing things at Aston Martin which is precisely what it looks like he’s done.

“He’s ambitious. He has ambitions for the car to make it into at least the top four and maybe even higher. There is a real positive feeling around Aston Martin at the moment.

“It’s a Mercedes engine. You can talk about whether the Ferrari engine with Alfa Romeo Sauber is more powerful or not but Aston Martin are going to be big movers. They do not expect to stay seventh in the constructors this year.”

With Fernando Alonso on board and major upgrades under construction at their Silverstone base, Aston Martin look on the right path to achieve owner Lawrence Stroll’s goal of fighting for World Championships.

While a championship fight seems too big an ask for 2023, Aston Martin are quietly confident about their chances of improving this year with Fallows describing the AMR23 as “bold and aggressive.”

“We went into this year trying to be bold and aggressive, to try to take on the lessons from last year,” he said during the launch event.

“We want to move up the grid and start challenging the teams at the front – and you can’t do that by sitting back and being conservative.”