When Aston Martin announced in the winter of 2020 that they would enter Formula 1 for the 2021 season, it was an announcement that met with great excitement. The entry came through a £ 500m bailout deal for the troubled auto company staged by Racing Point team owner Lawrence Stroll, who in turn became Aston Martin’s CEO. His Racing Point team thus became the factory Aston Martin F1 outfit. Stroll and the team later announced that four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel would sign a multi-year deal with Aston Martin after the team decided to leave Sergio Perez, who eventually joined Red Bull. It was also the first time since 1960 that Aston Martin has been in Formula 1 after failing their first jump into the sport.
There were high hopes for 2021 after the team took podium finishes, a pole position and a win as Racing Point in 2020 and narrowly lost to McLaren in the battle for third place. But a change in the floor rules for 2021 and a move away from a direct Mercedes autocopy thanks to a rule clarification means that Aston Martin is trying to just get into the top 5 this year instead of finishing third. But in the end, Aston Martin will someday succeed again in the premier class of motorsport.
The man at the wheel
via The Times
There is no better man than Lawrence Stroll to lead them to the top of Formula 1. The Canadian businessman is a man of great ambition and has poured a lot of money into the Silverstone-based team after bailing it out of administration in 2018. This allowed what was then Force India, later Racing Point team, to finally have the budget it was so many years ago and allowed them to pursue the concept of the ‘pink Mercedes’ in 2020 and create a car that almost was a direct copy of the title-winning Mercedes W10 from 2019.
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Stroll has also helped fund son Lance’s F1 career in recent years, starting with Williams before moving to what is now Aston Martin’s team in Turkey in 2019 and his opening performance, a race that he would probably have won without front wing damage. Despite the difficulties so far this season, Stroll Sr. knows he has a team capable of doing great things, and one of them is a certain Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel, the signature of the masterpiece?
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It raised its eyebrows when it became known that Racing Point had signed Vettel for 2021 and its Aston Martin trip. On the one hand, the overwhelming majority were happy that Vettel, unceremoniously dumped from Ferrari before the start of the postponed 2020 season, had found a drive for 2021 and beyond. But there were those who doubted his ability after a shaky year at Ferrari in which new team-mate Charles Leclerc got the upper hand, and 2020 hadn’t been much better by then with a car that was incredibly difficult to drive was, and now away from the pace of the likes of Mercedes and even Racing Point.
via ASN Motorsports
But with the summer break now beginning at the time of writing, Stroll may have just made his best move to date. Vettel had a tough start to 2021 as poor reliability in pre-season testing affected his early races. But he took a mega fifth place in Monaco, followed by a sensational drive in Baku to finish second in all the chaos of the day, which would have been at least a fantastic fourth place before some of those races insane. Vettel finished second on the road behind shock winner Esteban Ocon in Hungary, until an appeal was made because of his fuel-related disqualification.
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Vettel is clearly getting on well with his new team, as many of his fights at Ferrari have been dismissed by many recently, simply because the environment he was in was not doing him well. He now seems to have the AMR21 car under control and is gaining the upper hand over Stroll in qualifying, even though Lance does a good job in comparison. It seems like all that is missing now is a car at the level of the Racing Point of 2020 to fully unlock a Vettel who seems to be back in top form.
The technical team
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Led by Technical Director Andrew Green, Aston Martin has a technical team that has really beaten over its weight in recent years. As Force India, the team took fourth place in the championship in 2016 and 2017 and showed with the 2020 Racing Point / Pink Mercedes what is possible with the right financing. While 2021 wasn’t that successful, the team is slowly improving the car, and there is a feeling that 2021 could just be a slip up ahead of the big technical changes for 2022 that could result in the team increasing the order again.
via F1Li
In addition, a certain amount of credit must be assigned to Lance Stroll. Lance is often wrongly under fire for the money his father brings into his career, let alone basically buying a team so his son can drive for them. But Lance can make a good turn and will have been instrumental in moving the team forward from 2019 to 2020 and improving the car in 2021. He and Vettel seem to have great work dynamics and if Lance can only sort out his consistency he’ll make a good Grand Prix driver and who knows, his first win might come sooner rather than later.
Look out for Aston Martin
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Despite the blip 2021 so far, this is a team with great ambitions and the will to move forward. Team boss Otmar Szafnauer is a sober, direct leader who works well with his team, his drivers and Stroll senior and of course would have helped Stroll make the tough decision to let Sergio Perez go to get Vettel and he is the team Stayed loyal through the dark times of 2018 to support the return of one of the most iconic brands to the sport. He definitely seems like the right man for the job.
via Formula Spy
Overall, this team knows what it is capable of. They are now proven race winners under their Racing Point garb. You have a young and hungry driver in one car and an experienced, still fast and four-time world champion in the other. Plus, they have an owner who not only has the money but the ambition and can go the way to make this team a successful team. We should watch out for Aston Martin. Who knows where this journey will take them.
Sources: Motorsport Magazine, The Times, Archyde, Sports Lumo, Aston Martin, ASN Motorsports, Formula Spy, F1Li, Formula 1
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About the author
Henry Kelsall
(1499 articles published)
From JDM cars to WWII machines. Has worked at HotCars since autumn 2018.
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