Aston Martin expecting Fallows on board by start of 2022 season
Aston Martin Formula team 1 boss Otmar Szafnauer expects new technical director Dan Fallows to be in place by the start of the 2022 season.
The Red Bull head of aerodynamics was announced in the role in June, but his current team made it clear at the time that he “will not be departing until the conclusion of his contract,” which ran until 2023.
Negotiations between the two teams followed, and Szafnauer has now indicated that he hopes Fallows will start at the Silverstone outfit in the early part of next year.
Aston has made it clear that Fallows is one the keys to its push to become a title contender.
"Things haven't slowed down in the recruitment,” said Szafnauer. “But unless they're very senior, we don't we don't announce everybody. We've hired over 150 people this year, and we will continue to hire.
“If we want to win a World Championship in four years’ time it does take human resource, infrastructure, factory, wind tunnel, just like the top teams, and we're on that trajectory to do that.
“And yeah, in the background, we're still negotiating on Dan's start time or date. And once that's known, we'll let everybody know.”
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal and CEO, Aston Martin F1
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Asked if Fallows would be on board by the start of next season he said: "Our aim is to to get him to start ASAP and sometime in the first quarter of next year.
“So if it's the start of next season, that is in the first quarter of next year. So hopefully, in that timeframe, we'll be able to have him start."
Szafnauer confirmed that new engineering director Luca Furbatto, previously with Alfa Romeo, will start work soon.
"Luca will be with us within weeks. Yes, he was announced. But you know, just like everybody they've got their notice periods to, to work out and all those. So within weeks, Luca will be free to start with us."
Szafnauer also gave some insight into the role of new Aston Martin Group CEO Martin Whitmarsh, who spent the US GP weekend with the team.
"He's still getting his feet under the table, so to speak, and learning who we are.” Szafnauer.
“There's 600 of us now. And he spent a lot of time in the last few weeks just getting to know all the senior members of the leadership team, having long meetings with them. Some of the people he knew from the time that he was in F1.
“But I think most of us, he didn't really have a working relationship with, so he's starting to get to know who we are.
“And he's there to help us. Strategically, there's a lot for us to do, including building a campus now, hiring people, putting processes in place that say perhaps a small team wouldn't have really needed, but a big team will need. And he's come from a big team.
“When he was at McLaren. It was one of the biggest teams and I too, when I was at Honda, it was a big team. But there's things that a small team that we didn't have in place, and we need to quickly put those things in place as we grow.
“So there's plenty to do. When he came to the first race, he spent one evening here until everybody's gone home, talking to all the engineers and mechanics, getting to know them, the tyre engineers, the race engineers, the performance engineers, all the mechanics, the number ones. And so it's in that mode of learning, if you know what I mean."
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