Despite Short Shelf-Life, $2.9 Billion Worth Boss Lawrence Stroll Emptied His Own Pockets for Mammoth F1 Dream

Canadian Billionaire Lawrence Stroll, who has a passion for Motorsports, once swooped in to save a dying F1 team, Force India, in 2018. Since then, the team has gone on to be called Aston Martin and the $2.9B worth businessman has invested a lot of funds in the team. Last year the F1 Mogul had a zoom call interview with GP Racing, where he explained how he emptied his pockets for a mammoth F1 dream.

Aston Martin had a disappointing 2021 season, which crushed the high expectations of the team based in Silverstone. In the interview that happened in October last year, Lawrence Stroll described how the team’s chief technical officer had explained to him the advantages of the in-house wind tunnel. The crux of the conversion was that if Stroll wanted to make his team a world champion, he needs the wind tunnel.

Believing it, Stroll went ahead with it despite a potential ban on wind tunnels by 2030. When Stuart Codling asked him to talk a bit more about the matter, he said, “It cost a bit of money, that change of mind.”

Whenever we talk about Lawrence Stroll, the person gets linked with his checkbooks. However, he didn’t reach where he is by betting on losing horses. He further said,” We invest to build a business for the future. I don’t think I have ever spent a lot or lost.”

The team’s wind tunnel project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

READ MORE: F1 Tycoon Lawrence Stroll Tightens Grip on Aston Martin With $2 Million Move

Despite the fact that there were 8 teams out of 10 favoring the ban of the wind tunnel, Aston Martin still wanted to spend their resources on them.

Aston Martin’s team principal states the reason behind getting a new wind tunnel

Last year in May, the news broke out that the majority of the Formula 1 teams wanted to ditch the use of wind tunnels in the sport. The wind tunnel has been an important piece of the puzzle for the teams, as the time they spend in there is directly proportional to the team’s performance. That is why the sport now has a rule that states: the higher a team finishes in the WCC, the lesser time they will get in the wind tunnel.

With all this, teams now want to ditch the wind tunnels, but the Silverstone-based team desires to have a new one. Team boss Otmar Szafnauer, in a conversation with GP fans, said, “We are putting plans in place at the moment to build a tunnel. Aerodynamics are still a big differentiator in our sport and to have your own [tunnel] is advantageous, or to not have your own can be disadvantageous.”

“Maybe that’s the right way to say it.”

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Despite the significant investment put in the team, there’s a lot of work needed to bring the Silverstone-based team closer to the front runners in Formula 1. But with the inclusion of the double champion Fernando Alonso, Lawrence Stroll will hope for some better results.