The team now known as Racing Point planned to move during the summer break of next year, but the COVID-19 crisis has delayed work on the new facility to be built on a site adjacent to the current building.
Instead of trying to move in winter, the team decided to wait a full year for the following August.
“The factory is still in operation,” said team boss Otmar Szafnauer to Motorsport.com. “We’re going to build it the way we need it to be competitive, because we’re going to be Aston Martin, because this place has been around since 1990 and we’ve outgrown it.
“The only thing is that the coronavirus has pushed it pretty sideways from a time perspective. We couldn’t do much.
“So we had made the decision to postpone the date when we wanted to move into the new factory, either by three or four months, which we have been delayed since the beginning of March, or by just a whole year.
“August is the right time to move in because it is traditionally the summer break. We’d be moving in August 2021, and we’re just going to postpone that for a year and move in August 2022. “
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Szafnauer says the team will make good use of the delay.
“We’ll probably have an additional five or six months, and that will be used up to get more competitive bids to build and make sure the plans are more detailed. When you have more detailed plans, your cost estimate will usually be more accurate and you can make better decisions.
“Now that the virus is also approaching us, I don’t know what the future will bring – I don’t know whether we will have social distance forever or whether we will have plexiglass cubes around every employee.
“We have to look at all of this just in case there is never a vaccine. And this gives us time to look at these things and take some of these precautions just in case.
“The extra time only helps us do more detailed tasks, which should save costs.”
Since the plans were first sketched, the team has made room for the Aston Martin tram design group, which will be moving from their current home at Red Bull Technology.
“The design team will be based here and there will also be a hub and a marketing center,” said Szafnauer. “Maybe you can even come here and see the F1 team and configure your new road car. It’s going to be a nice campus for Aston Martin. “
Racing Point factory
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Photo by: Racing Point
Racing Point factory
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Photo by: Racing Point
Racing Point factory
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Photo by: Racing Point
Racing Point factory
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Photo by: Racing Point
Racing Point factory
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Photo by: Racing Point
