'Newey influences' at Aston Martin? 'Learned a lot from him'

Period at Red Bull Racing

Fallows started at his new employer in 2022. It was already announced in 2021 that he would leave Red Bull Racing as head of aerodynamics, but Red Bull kept Fallows on the sidelines for a long time with the mandatory leave of absence. Therefore, Fallows could only start as Aston Martin's new technical director in April this year.

Still, Fallows looks back on his time at Red Bull with a good feeling, having worked there back in 2002 when the team was still called Jaguar. ''One of the most exciting parts of the Red Bull journey was when the team evolved from Jaguar. A small team with a very limited budget suddenly had significantly more budget, more resource, and more technical strength right at the top of the organisation. Watching the team grow, being part of that growth, being part of the success, even making mistakes along the way and learning from them, it was incredibly exciting,'' says Fallows in An interview on Aston Martin's website.

Since 2014, Fallows worked at Red Bull as head of aerodynamics and had many dealings with Adrian Newey. The top Formula 1 designer is considered one of the best in his field and Fallows says he learned a lot from that.

Lessons from Newey

''I learnt a huge amount from Adrian. We all know how talented he is as a designer but what people who haven't worked with him don't appreciate is just how modest he is from a technical perspective – there's no technical arrogance with him. He doesn't have a problem with letting go of an idea if evidence comes along that supports a different approach. Of course, you believe in your ideas and what you think is right but, if something or someone comes along with evidence that proves a different idea is better, you must never be afraid to change tack and do things differently – that's the key thing I learned from Adrian.''

There is still a lot of work to do for Fallows at Aston Martin. The AMR22 did not turn out as well as hoped this season. The new regulations were the team's chance to take a step forward, but with ninth place in the constructors' championship, the British team has actually fallen further behind. It is now up to the former Red Bull man to start turning that around in the coming years.