Will Aston Martin Become a Front Runner in F1?

Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin deal brought a lot of excitement in the Racing Point garage. The team’s transformation to an F1 works team could even bring it to the front of the grid in the coming years.

Recently, Otmar Szafnauer talked about the Aston Martin F1 deal in an interview published by the Racing Point F1 team website. He expressed his happiness and appreciated Lawrence Stroll for bringing Aston Martin back to F1. He added that the upcoming years will be very exciting. And the partnership will surely produce strong results from 2021 onwards.

“As one of the most iconic sports car brands in the world. Aston Martin needed a presence on the F1 grid and this solution delivers a fully-fledged works Aston Martin F1 Team from 2021 onwards” he said.

“Creating a works F1 team achieves a number of objectives for Aston Martin,” he explained.

Positive Impact on Aston Martin

“It delivers a high-profile marketing platform for the road car division. It will enhance commercial appeal in all areas of the business. There is also the obvious technical collaboration between the F1 program and the road cars.”

“And F1 technology will filter through to the products Aston Martin launches in the years ahead. This is particularly relevant to the mid-engine philosophy that is just around the corner. The competitive environment of racing is a rich avenue for innovation and the opportunity for technology cross-over is incredibly exciting.”

Racing Point’s journey to becoming an F1 work’s team

The team originally started as Jordan Grand Prix in 1991. And competed for 15 full seasons. It went through a series of rebrandings afterward. First, it became Midland F1 racing in 2006 followed by another name change to Spykar F1 in 2007. And after changing hands once more it became Force India in 2008.

Finally, after 10 years as Force India, it was put into administration. And after Lawrence Stroll’s buyout, it became Racing Point Force India F1. They dropped the Force India name the next year.

Otmar added, “It certainly provides a real injection of energy for the 465 loyal and hard-working staff in Silverstone. The team has been in business, under various names, for 30 years and is more than ready to become a manufacturer team.”

Otmar’s plans for the 2021 Season

“Lawrence Stroll spoke to the staff last week and set out a clear objective to establish Aston Martin as one of the top teams in the sport. Everyone is proud to represent a legendary car manufacturer returning to the pinnacle of motorsport.”

“There’s no immediate impact on our current campaign. And we will compete as Racing Point until the rebranding takes place. From then we will be known simply as ‘Aston Martin F1 Team’. And the Racing Point name will disappear.”

“It’s exciting to transition into a manufacturer team and we’ve got the best part of a year to make all those changes. Much of which will be happening behind-the-scenes. It’s important we don’t take our eyes off the main task for 2020, which is to be competitive on the racetrack with the RP20.”

Racing Point and its predecessors are known to throw a punch well above their weight. The team struggled financially for years but still gave a stellar performance every year. Now they have a combination of financial stability and an ‘Aston Martin’ boost. And it could propel the team to the front of the grid. How the team will actually perform, only time will tell.