Aston Martin have appointed Andy Cowell as team principal after demoting Mike Krack from the role in an organisational restructure.
Former Mercedes engine guru Cowell joined the team as group chief executive officer in October last year but has now also been made team principal.
Krack, who had been Aston Martin team principal since 2022, will become chief trackside officer as part of changes that split their aerodynamics, engineering and performance departments into separate trackside and campus-based operations.
Aston Martin, who moved into a new Silverstone campus in 2023, say the changes are designed for “clarity of leadership and as part of a shift to a flatter structure” and to help achieve “its mission of becoming a championship-winning outfit”.
“I have spent the last three months understanding and assessing our performance, and I’ve been incredibly impressed by the dedication, commitment and hard work of this team,” said Cowell, the mastermind behind the engines that helped Mercedes win eight successive constructors’ titles from 2014 to 2021.
“With the completion of the AMR Technology Campus and our transition in 2026 to a full works team, alongside our strategic partners Honda and Aramco, we are on a journey to becoming a championship-winning team.
“These organisational changes are a natural evolution of the multi-year plans that we have scheduled to make and I’m incredibly excited about the future.”
The announcement also confirmed that Enrico Cardile will take up the position of chief technical officer that he was signed to in July last year, with the Italian having just been allowed to start work after serving his gardening leave period after leaving Ferrari.
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Aston Martin’s announcement made no mention of legendary designer Adrian Newey, who is joining the team as managing technical partner in March after departing Red Bull.
The team’s statement said: “The AMR Technology Campus-based team will be spearheaded by the team’s new chief technical officer, Enrico Cardile, with a team that can now focus 100 per cent of its time on the competitive ingenuity challenge of creating a new race car. Enrico will oversee the architecture, design and build of new race cars.”
Tom McCullough, who previously led trackside operations under the title of performance director, will remain in a “group leadership position, where he will play a critical role in the expansion of the team’s broader range of racing categories”.
The changes come after Aston Martin regressed in 2024 following an encouraging 2023 campaign. While they finished both campaigns fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll’s combined points total dropped from 280 to 94.
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Aston Martin have made no secret of their hope of becoming title challengers, particularly when a new generation of engine and design regulations are introduced to the sport in 2026.
The team have secured a deal to have their engines manufactured by current Red Bull supplier Honda, switching away from Mercedes.
The team’s billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll, whose son Lance drives for the squad alongside two-time world champion Alonso, has spared no expense in his attempts to create a title-winning outfit.
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