Car Vrum

Since Lawrence Stroll took over, a lot has changed at the team that used to be known as Racing Point and before that as Force India. Meanwhile, the team was renamed ‘Aston Martin,’ after Stroll also became boss of the James Bond car brand. The ambitions are great, attracting four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel is an example of this.

But also in terms of infrastructure, things are moving in Silverstone. There will be a brand new factory and the workforce will also increase considerably. All this is done with only one goal: to close the gap with the top teams and nothing more, but also nothing less than becoming world champions.

Szafnauer said that everything is going according to plan so far and that he believes the new budget cap will have a ‘transformative’ effect on the teams.

“We don’t fully understand how big this change is yet, but I think it will be transformative for Formula 1,” said Szafnauer.

“For the teams, our design engineers and aero teams, especially the big teams, cost was really an afterthought, it was just about performance.”

“But now the cost will become an aspect where you have to weigh the costs against the performance. We will make decisions based on performance, but also with costs in mind.”

We already understood that Aston Martin’s ambitions are steep, but when does Szafnauer see his team realize those ambitions?

“If we can compete for the world championship in three to four years, that would be a success, and winning in five years, that would certainly be successful,” said Szafnauer.

“If you look back at the teams that have won multiple championships recently, I think it took Mercedes four years after they bought Brawn and Red Bull took about as long after they bought Jaguar, I think we start from a lower base.”

“When Mercedes bought Brawn, they had won the world championship the year before, while we had finished fourth a few times. We weren’t world champions, so it takes longer to bring a team that is at the top of the midfield to first place.”

“So when I say four to five years, I think that would be a success if we can achieve that.”

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