While several rivals have opted to make major concept changes, Aston focussed on an evolution of the 2023 model which earned eight podium finishes in the hands of Fernando Alonso despite a dip in form in the second half of the season.

The days of testing in Bahrain suggested that the team has made the progress it was seeking with the initial launch package, even if others set more eye-catching headline times.

“When we went into this season really looking for a step over the winter, we wanted to make sure we did get an improvement,” said Fallows. 

“Even though it’s an evolution of last year’s car, we wanted it to be a strong improvement as well as a strong evolution. And, we have seen that step, we’ve seen that benefit. So we’re very pleased about that.

“I think the most important thing for us is where we go from here. We weren’t 100% pleased with what we achieved in our in-season development last year. And we wanted to make sure we can compete at the top level in terms of in-season as well.

“I think we were mostly keen on making sure we made a step on last year, which we have done. So I think we can certainly tick that box.”

Dan Fallows, Technical Director, Aston Martin F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Alonso made clear at the car’s launch that the key areas that needed to be addressed were straight-line speed and downforce in high-speed corners.

“We had some things that we focused on over the winter in terms of making the car good to drive, making the balance good,” said Fallows when asked by Motorsport.com about those targets. 

“And I think we’re reasonably happy with where we are now. We know we’ve always got things to improve, which is why we go back into the wind tunnel and why we go back to the drawing board to do those things.

“But so far, I think we’ve achieved a lot in three days in testing, done a lot of test items, and we’re pretty pleased with the outcome.”

Team principal Mike Krack agreed that the Bahrain sessions had gone to plan, with Aston able to “do all of our work that we had scheduled every day”.

However, Krack remains cautious about the team’s place in the pecking order. “We need to look into the next days, get all the full analysis, and it will be over the next days that we get a clearer picture as well,” he said. 

“I think it was quite important for us that we look at ourselves: we have quite a big programme and we cannot influence anyway what others are doing. And now it’s about the analysis, and also trying to understand what others did.

“If you go through the full range of track conditions, fuel loads, engine modes, tyres – we had all the five tyre specs here, I think you can cover a range of five seconds. To then discern who’s ahead by how much, I think it’s really, really tough.”