Aston Martin issued Red Bull challenge: 'This is the standard we must get to'

Aston Martin has been challenged to begin executing Grands Prix andenjoy a reliability level similar to Red Bull if it wants tochallenge at the top of Formula 1. Eight podiums and more than fivetimes as many points as in 2022 was the team's reward for a strong2023 campaign, in which it had the nearest challenger to Red Bullover the opening races. However, the team slipped back mid-seasonas upgrades did not work as intended, as it finished fifth in thestandings, with Red Bull claiming 21 of 22 race wins. WhilePerformance Director Tom McCullough and boss Mike Krack werepleased with the progress made, both felt reaching the Red Bulllevel of trackside operations was a major goal for 2024. AstonMartin must improve "The team has generally executed weekends well,and in the past, we were very well-known for that," McCullough toldmedia including RacingNews365. "Now on top of that, we're obviouslytrying to design and develop a car to go fight at the front, and wehad a rear wing in Suzuka with a manufacturing problem where itfailed, the power unit, or actually exhaust problem, in Jeddah. "Itis these things that don't happen as a team if we want to fightright at the front and you have got to have perfect weekends,weekend in, weekend out. "Another example, by Red Bull, is from thereliability side as well as the operational side. "That is thestandard we've got to get to and it is not just focusing on onearea, there a lots of areas where we need small margins just to bebetter. "We know that if we give our drivers good cars, they'll getus good results so that's what we've got to focus on doing." TeamPrincipal Krack added his ethos behind improvement was based onachieving three major goals. "It is safety, reliability and thenoperations first," he said. "With the operational side, if we donot manage to be at 100%, which we must in each session and eachevent over the whole year, if we do not manage that, we cannotextract the maximum performance, be it the driver, car, set-up orengineer. "We must guarentee that we have this box ticked and wehave failed to do so a couple of occasions this year, but we knowwe need to have it right."