F1 News: Aston Martin Director Credits Former Champion For Large Part Of 2023 Success

Aston Martin offers due credit to Sebastian Vettel for having a faster car this year.

Securing eight podiums through the year, Aston Martin witnessed an excellent start to the 2023 season. The AMR23 appeared to be a Red Bull contender in the initial stages, and the team credits ex-driver Sebastian Vettel for his inputs last year, which made the car a fierce competitor. 

Tom McCullough, the Performance Director of Aston Martin, believes Vettel should be acknowledged for his contribution to the team's impressive season turnaround. After six seasons with Ferrari, Vettel made the decision to join Aston Martin for the 2021 campaign.

When Sebastian Vettel was with Aston Martin, the team predominantly participated in the midfield, but he achieved a podium finish at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Concluding his final season with the Silverstone-based squad before retirement, Aston Martin secured a seventh-place finish in the Constructors' Championship.

The exit of Vettel opened the door for two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso to join the team for the 2023 season. Aston Martin experienced a significant improvement in their performance early in the season, with Alonso clinching six podiums in the first eight races.

Even though Aston Martin's performance faded as the season progressed, the team concluded the campaign in fifth place in the standings, securing an additional two podium finishes in the latter part of the year. Speaking to the media, McCullough emphasized the influence that Vettel had on the team. He told RacingNews365.com:

“When he joined us he came from two championship-winning teams.

“At that time, he brought a lot of small details. He was a relentless worker as well.

“We often say the drivers are the best sensor in the car [when] a lot of the development you've got [include] wind tunnels, simulators, offline simulation, CFD.

“A driver whose backside is connected to the car can say 'this is the phase of these kinds of corners that I know we're struggling maybe more than others'.

“That allows you to go dig into the data. We didn't give him a good enough car over the two years he was here. By the end of his second year, we were making progress.”

While McCullough expressed his sympathy for Vettel for being unable to drive a more competitive car, he revealed that it is a common theme that has been played throughout the history of the sport. He concluded:

“I felt for him that he's not really got any of the benefits of this year's car.

“Over the years that often happens. I've been involved with that process myself in the past.

“At Williams when we had Rubens Barrichello driving for us, he put so much work during the 2010 and 2011 seasons as far as to say ‘this is what you need to do, this what you should be doing now on so many areas of the car’.

“The 2012 car [that won the Spanish Grand Prix at the hands of Pastor Maldonado], which unfortunately he didn't end up driving, was the result of a lot of the hard work that he had done.”

Aston Martin Press Image