Aston Martin outline improvement needed to fight Red Bull

Aston Martin Performance Director Tom McCullough has stated thatthe squad must be “perfect” on a consistent basis in order to bestWorld Champions Red Bull. Red Bull enjoyed a highly dominantFormula 1 campaign last year, winning 21 out of the 22 Grands Prixstaged. Aston Martin commenced the year in strong fashion as itscored six podiums in the opening eight races, aiding its push tofifth in the Constructors' Championship - two positions higher thanits 2022 result. However, there were gremlins present during thecampaign as its form dipped midway through the campaign when it wascaught by rival teams. The trackside operations of theSIlverstone-based squad have long been hailed as one of the best onthe grid, stemming from the success it had under the Force Indianame while operating on a limited budget. Speaking to mediaincluding RacingNews365 , McCullough does not believe that aspecthas changed since its transition to Aston Martin. “I do think theteam has generally executed weekends well in the past, we were verywell known for that,” he said. “Now we're obviously on top of that,trying to design and develop a car to go fight at the front.”Fernando Alonso scored the majority of Aston Martin's points lastyear and secured eight podiums for the squad. The Spaniard endedthe season fourth in the Drivers' Championship while team-mateLance Stroll was 10th. Stroll suffered mechanical issues thatforced him to retire in Saudi Arabia and Japan, with McCulloughcalling on the team to make consistency improvements to allow it tobattle at the head of the field. “These things do happen. We wantto fight right at the front, you’ve got to be perfect weekend in,weekend out. “That's the example made by Red Bull, from thereliability side, the operational side, they've not failed to winmany races this year. “That's just the standard we've got to getto. Rather than just focusing on one area, there are a lot of areaswhere we need to improve small margins just to be better. “We knowthat if we give our drivers good cars, they will give us goodresults. That’s what we’ve got to focus on doing.”