Aston came flying out of the gates in Bahrain, with its lead driver Fernando Alonso racking up five podiums in the first six races.
But over the summer the going got tougher for the Silverstone squad, with it especially slipping back on mixed corner circuits where aerodynamic efficiency comes at a premium, as Alonso was restricted to just one more podium in eight races.
In the meantime, it has also lost touch with Mercedes in the constructors' table and is instead looking over its shoulder at the resurgent McLaren team.
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Aston's performance director Tom McCullough admitted the team has not developed as strongly as hoped, and that rival teams who started the season on the back foot have done a better job of catching up.
"There are definitely some teams at the start of the year who were underperforming, who were taking a step back, we knew that they'd get back on top of that, most notably McLaren and Mercedes," he replied when asked by Autosport if Aston was expecting others to catch up after its rapid start.
"At the start of the year, we were a little bit surprised to be the second or third fastest team, but the margins between the second, third and fourth fastest teams were always very small. And we're always very aware that it doesn't take much to fall to the back of that pack.
"And then just from a pure development, race, bringing bits to the car, making the car quicker, it was a relative game. Some teams have been doing a stronger job than we have, we have to accept that.
"We obviously hoped to develop stronger than we've ended up developing."
Source: Autosport