Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel finished sixth and eighth respectively in Singapore, and just one weekend later the German driver finished sixth in Japan. Tom McCullough says those results weren’t a fluke, although he acknowledges that some of the regulars in the points zone suffered from a variety of issues.
“We have had aggressive development that has been ongoing since the start of the season,” he told Motorsport.com.
“And we have been making improvements to the car race after race, and they have worked, the car has been faster and faster, and we have also learned more and more.
“The guys who work on the development of our Formula 1 have done really well, and that makes our work easier on the track. At the same time, we have also had very, very good reliability so far.”
“Whether you just get one point, like Lance [Stroll] did a lot of times, or you start getting more, it’s about being there, like the best of the rest, like we saw others do earlier in the year. It’s positive. So now we can do it ourselves.”
“The drivers have done an excellent job, we have squeezed our package to the fullest, both races have been in difficult conditions, so it is very satisfying,” he added.
The two Asian events allowed the Silverstone outfit to overtake Haas and AlphaTauri in the constructors’ championship, and move just seven points behind sixth-placed Alfa Romeo.
“These two races, Singapore and Japan, have given us good points, very important in relation to our main objective in constructors,” said McCullough. “And that is fundamental. There are still four races to go, but now we are in a much better position compared to Haas, AlphaTauri and even now Alfa Romeo, who are still ahead.”
“McLaren and Alpine are very far away, and they are fighting for fourth and fifth. But from sixth onwards, we have always felt that we had a chance. And at the moment we are in that fight.”
“There’s still a long way to go. But it’s nice to be in the fight and to have a car that can be in the fight almost every weekend, on very different circuits.”
While their manager Dan Fallows ‘ main focus is 2023, McCullough says they’ve put a lot of effort into improving this season’s AMR22 as well.
“Obviously new employees have come in and they’ve already made a big contribution to this year’s car,” he said. “We’re going in a really strong direction in that regard.”
“I think the team is working well after a difficult start. We had two different routes in the development phase, but we focused on one and worked on it for all these months.”
“It is gratifying for everyone, because for the 2022 car the regulation change was very big, and for many people at different levels within the whole team it has been a huge challenge.
“To now be on the road to start scoring points on a continual basis and to show signs of improvement compared to the start of the campaign is very satisfying for everyone,” concluded Aston Martin.
