Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Cowell replaces Krack as Aston Martin team principal
Andy Cowell is the new team principal of the Aston Martin Formula 1 team following a restructuring that sees Mike Krack take on a trackside role.
Krack has been Aston Martin team principal since joining in 2022, but has been replaced by Cowell -- who was already group CEO -- “for clarity of leadership and as part of a shift to a flatter structure.” Cowell only joined in October of last year, and was a highly rated signing following his previous achievements as managing director of Mercedes’ power unit company High Performance Powertrains (HPP).
Aston Martin says it is separating its aerodynamics, engineering and performance departments into trackside and factory-based teams, with both reporting into Cowell.
The change in team principal sees Krack handed trackside responsibility as chief trackside officer, meaning his jurisdiction no longer extends to the factory personnel. That falls under the remit of new chief technical officer Enrico Cardile, with the former Ferrari technical director a new recruit this year, and overseeing “a team that can now focus 100% of its time on the competitive ingenuity challenge of creating a new race car.”
As part of the restructuring, experienced performance director Tom McCullough will move away from the trackside F1 team and take on a leadership positions within the wider group, focusing on the expansion of the team’s other racing categories.
“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,” Cowell said. “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 organizational changes are a natural evolution of the multi-year plans that we have scheduled to make and I'm incredibly excited about the future.”
Andy Cowell moves from Group Chief Executive Officer to team principal at Aston Martin. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
The restructuring follows a change in the technical department late last season, with Dan Fallows leaving his position as technical director and moving into a group role.
At the time, McCullough suggested it was due to the lack of progress with the team’s in-season car development, as Aston Martin finished a distant fifth in the constructors’ championship and scored 94 points in 2024 compared to 280 the year before. On both occasions, Aston started the year with a more competitive car than it finished the season with.
The organizational changes are in advance of Adrian Newey’s arrival as managing technical partner at Aston Martin later this year.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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