Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition is an absolute weapon – sharp, tight, fast

Usually ONLY two people see Lewis Hamilton in their mirrors.

Max Verstappen and the driver of the F1 safety car.

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Aston is selling you the on-road Vantage F1 Edition – minus the yellow roof lights – for £ 142,000Photo credit: IG @ _fraser73

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It’s a wacky Vantage sports car that’s making its way home to Silverstone and Bicester VillagePhoto credit: IG @ _fraser73

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The Aston Martin F1 Safety Car in actionImage credit: SUT

But while Max has a 1,000-horsepower Red Bull, big wings, and sticky tires to keep Lewis in check, the Aston Martin doesn’t.

It’s a wacky Vantage sports car that will be driving through Silverstone and Bicester Village on the way home.

Aston is selling you the on-road Vantage F1 Edition – minus the yellow roof lights – for £ 142,000. Lots of money, yes – but not a lot of money either, considering this car dances over the regular Vantage for an extra £ 20,000.

More power, more aero, more everything.

On road tires it is a whopping 15 seconds faster over the Nürburgring, the legendary playground for car engineers.

Aston boss Tobias Moers said: “Every car that bears an F1 badge has to be really exceptional. The results speak for themselves.”

Perhaps I should explain that Moers is a master poached from Mercedes-AMG a year ago and does not do a BS. The Vantage F1 Edition is the first Aston under his supervision.

So let’s take a closer look.

We all know that the 4-liter twin-turbo V8 supplied by AMG is one of the best pieces of automotive engineering available today. Full of wallop and an artillery of noise.

Here the power has been increased to 535 horses (up to 25 hp), the maximum torque is kept longer and a torque reduction when upshifting contributes to the racing car feeling.

The chassis was also sprinkled with some Moers magic.

Stiffer rear springs, revised dampers and a thicker underbody to better support the front section. As well as all sorts of other small tweaks to improve agility. The front splitter over the entire width and the fixed rear wing provide an additional 200 kg of downforce. What does that mean exactly? It increases the stress on the tires for better cornering at high speed.

Now let’s go for a spin.

Hubba. Hubba. Absolute weapon. Sharper, firmer, faster – without any disadvantages.

Concentration (and the fear of throwing it away) kept me safe at first, but if you hurry it it will respond to any input. Like it’s connected to your brain.

Right, we’re friends now. Time for a little showboating. Track mode ON, nanny blankets OFF, pedal loudly and let the rear axle dance.

So controllable. So easy to go straight to it.

You won’t see Bernd Maylander, the F1 safety car driver, drifting around Silverstone today.

Hopefully you don’t see him at all. Otherwise it means that it has gotten messy.

But when called into action, he has the tools to keep Max and Lewis and the rest of the F1 grid behind him while looking really cool at the same time.

Nice job, Aston.

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The power has been increased to 535 horses (up to 25 hp), the maximum torque is kept longer and a torque reduction during upshifts contributes to the racing car feelingPhoto credit: Dominic Fraser

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Aston boss Tobias Moers said: “Every car that bears an F1 badge has to be really exceptional. The results speak for themselves.’Photo credit: IG @ _fraser73

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Vantage F1 and left Aston Martin DBX Medical Car in action on race dayCredit: Max Earey Photographer

KEY FACTS: ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE F1 EDITION

• price: £ 142,000
• engine: 4-liter twin-turbo V8
• Power: 535 hp, 685 Nm
• 0-100 km / h: 3.6 sec.
• Top speed: 195 km / h
• economy: 24mpg
• CO2: 264g / km
• out: Now

The protagonists of the F1 World Championship, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, are stacked up