Red Bull head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows will join Aston Martin as technical director once his current Formula 1 contract concludes.
Aston Martin recently announced that it would be recruiting a technical director as one of three key department heads in its new structure reporting to newly-promoted chief technical officer Andrew Green.
Green, who worked with Fallows at Red Bull before moving to what was then called Force India ahead of the 2010 season, will be charged with the bigger-picture technical leadership of the team, with Luca Furbatto also joining as engineering director at the start of next year and Tom McCullough becoming performance director.
Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner says, however, that Fallows won’t be out of contract with the Milton Keynes outfit “within the next couple of years” – even if he’ll presumably be put on gardening leave when the new F1 rules kick in.
Fallows has worked for Red Bull since joining as aerodynamics team leader in January 2006.
However, his association with the team stretches back to a stint as Jaguar senior aerodynamicist that started in 2001 and was followed by a year as Dallara’s chief F1 aerodynamicist in 2005, at a time when the Italian company was working with the Jordan/Midland team. Before that, he worked as an aerodynamicist with Lola.
In 2014, he was at the centre of a row between McLaren and Red Bull, with the Woking-based team believing it had Fallows under contract but Red Bull ultimately managing to keep hold of him after the dispute was settled.
As Aston Martin technical director, Fallows will be responsible for overseeing the aerodynamics department, overall car design and what Aston Martin describes as “the short- to mid-term technical strategy”.
“It’s been known about for some time,” Horner said when asked to comment on Fallows’ exit ahead of the Styrian GP. “All credit to Dan to be selected to be their TD. He’s a great guy and been a valued member of our team.
“Of course we have tremendous strength in depth. We’ve got some tremendous talent. It just frees up an opportunity for the next evolution.
“But Dan’s going to be with us for a while [yet]. He’s fully focused on this year’s car and will be with us until the end of his contract.”
