Aston Martin F1: Owner Lawrence Stroll is aiming for world championship titles with renamed team

Lawrence Stroll took over the former Force India team in 2018

Owner Lawrence Stroll has set his Aston Martin Formula 1 team the goal of becoming world champions.

Canadian billionaire Stroll has renamed his Racing Point outfit after the historic British car brand.

The team has too signed the four-time master Sebastian Vettel for 2021.

“My goal is to win, like the other companies I own,” said Stroll in an interview with BBC Sport on the occasion of the official launch of Aston Martin F1.

Stroll added that it was also his ambition to have his son Lance, who drives for the team, become world champion.

In a rare and detailed interview, the 61-year-old, who had made his fortune in the fashion industry, discussed:

• Why he thinks Aston Martin will become a major force in F1
• His confidence in Vettel despite the German’s difficult last year with Ferrari in 2020
• His belief in his son as a leading talent
• How he ended up as the owner of an F1 team and head of one of the world’s leading car brands

Strive for the world title

Lawrence Stroll bought Racing Point in 2018 after going into management in its previous form as Force India and decided to rename it Aston Martin after taking over the UK auto company last January. Aston Martin last drove in F1 in 1960.

The team finished fourth in the constructors’ championship in 2020 and, thanks to former driver Sergio Perez, won their first Grand Prix at the Sakhir races in Bahrain. The Mexican wasn’t kept for 2021, but has moved to Red Bull.

Stroll said a combination of his investment in the team, hiring more people, restructuring the business, introducing the budget cap for F1 this year, and the new tech rules for 2022 make it a “very realistic” goal, To become world champion is the future.

“F1 is a process that takes years to be successful. It’s not an overnight thing, but no business is built overnight,” said Stroll.

“It will be the same. I want to pick up where we finished last year, only stronger.

“We had several podiums, we had a win. I want to have several podiums and one or two more victories this year – fighting for more and more victories step by step.”

Stroll said the team’s new tech and title sponsor, US computer giant Cognizant, has equipped the new Silverstone factory with the latest in artificial intelligence and data analysis technology. a new world for us “.

Stroll said he had urged team boss Otmar Szafnauer and technical director Andrew Green to see if the team could become world champions as he continued his policy of buying the gearbox and some other parts, including aspects of the suspension, from Mercedes in addition to engines .

“I said, ‘We have the new rules for 2022, we’re here to win, that’s why I’m here, that’s why we’re all here, but I have the ability to give us the resources we need to win, “he added. “What would we do differently to become world champions? ‘

“And Andy said, ‘My first answer is, I don’t think I would change much.'”

Stroll said he believed the main differentiator in Formula 1 would remain aerodynamics and that the new spending limits would “play into our hands” as Aston Martin didn’t have to downsize, unlike big teams like Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari you.

Sergio Perez took the team’s first Grand Prix victory at the Sakhir race in Bahrain in December

Trust in Vettel

Vettel joins Aston Martin after a disappointing last year at Ferrari, in which he was extensively outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc and remained prone to the mistakes that plagued his campaigns since 2017.

But Stroll said he was confident the 33-year-old, who was told his contract would not be renewed by Ferrari before the start of the 2020 season, could regain his best shape in his new home.

“Sebastian had a very challenging year last year,” he said.

“We’d all find it a challenge if you lost your job before the start of the season. It’s very difficult mentally and you know how mentally an F1 game is for drivers.

“He had a car that he found difficult, that didn’t suit his driving style. We saw that in his last year at Red Bull [in 2014].

“But he’s a four-time world champion. I don’t think in a year he forgot how to drive. He has a work ethic that is known to be unmatched when it comes to his hard work in the paddock.

“One of the ways we become world champions is to get my boys to think and act like world champions. And how you do that, you bring a four-time world champion onto the team.

“He will lead the team in a direction that will lead us to where we ultimately want to be.

“I’m not worried. I know Sebastian well and I am 100% convinced that he will do a fantastic job with us. He is more motivated than ever before.”

Belief in Lance as a future world champion

Drake, Arsenal and Racism – Who is the Formula 1 Lance Stroll?

Stroll said his moves to buy Racing Point and acquire Aston Martin are independent business decisions.

Now he’s in charge of both, he said, “the two of them do magic together,” adding, “The best way to market Aston Martin is to have your own F1 team. Then the picture became clear.”

He said he believed Aston Martin could ultimately make his son the world champion because Lance had shown his “talent and ability”.

Stroll said: “Lance’s on-track performance for a 21-year-old last year was extremely impressive – there was pole in Turkey when we all know that the wet is more about the driver than the car and the race at 30 leads laps until part of the front wing broke.

“There were two podiums and a bit of bad luck – a flat tire at Mugello – that would have been another podium.

“At 21 he did an amazing job, an incredible job. I wish him, as any father would wish any son, the best he can do as long as it makes him happy – that’s what matters.

“We had a good car last year. This year we will have a different level of excitement and motivation because of Aston Martin.

“We have more people, we have the new factory, it’s all exciting, but his performance on the track last year showed that he has the ability to perform very well.”