Aston Martin return set to leave Formula One shaken and stirred
Billionaire Stroll and his James Bond cars could threaten the big three, writes Oliver Brown
In the fraught battle to shake up Formula One’s pecking order, Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire, has launched the most decisive salvo yet, acquiring a £182million stake in Aston Martin that paves the way for the British manufacturer to return to motorsport’s elite.
Under the terms of the deal, Stroll’s Racing Point operation will become the Aston Martin works team from 2021, threatening the dominance of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. Not since 1960, when the company was entered into a few races by a privateer – failing to score a single championship point – has Aston Martin had an F1 presence. This time, courtesy of Stroll, there is the investment to ensure a far deeper impact.
For a start, the agreement is for the Aston Martin team to be an F1 fixture for a minimum of 10 years. There is little doubt, either, that Stroll, worth around £2billion from his role in building the Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors fashion brands, will bankroll the project lavishly. A racing devotee who owns vintage Ferraris, he has ploughed some of his fortune into ensuring his son Lance’s elevation through the ranks.
His statement in bringing Aston Martin back into the F1 fold is momentous. The sport has been struggling to entice fresh manufacturing expertise, with giants such as Audi and Nissan preferring to hitch their masts to more sustainable technology in Formula E. Aston Martin’s involvement heralds the injection of priceless kudos. For all that the company’s road-car sales have dipped, triggering a financial crisis that saw Stroll ride to the rescue, they remain an iconic British marque, courtesy of their association with James Bond.
Naturally, the sport loves nothing more than to milk this 007 glamour. Red Bull, for whom Aston Martin still serves as title sponsor until the end of this year, invited Daniel Craig as their guest of honour for last summer’s British Grand Prix. Stroll is well placed to enrich the company’s mystique, having described Aston Martin yesterday as “one of the great global luxury car brands”.
The belligerent fashion mogul has not always been to everybody’s taste in F1. At Williams, the tensions between Stroll and senior management were self-evident, such was his exasperation at the team’s failure to provide his son with a more competitive car. He had a temper that earned him the nickname “Vesuvius”. What cannot be denied, though, is his eye for a well-timed bail-out. While his acquisition in 2018 of Force India – later renamed as Racing Point – looked like a clear attempt to guarantee an F1 seat for Lance, the reality is hundreds would have lost their jobs without his intervention.
With Aston Martin’s arrival, the F1 revolution in 2021 promises to gather pace. The strict £125 million budget caps on teams should serve as a much-needed leveller, while radically remodelled cars will enjoy greater overtaking opportunities. Mclaren and Renault are already poised to exploit the regulation changes, narrowing the gap to the big three, while the addition of Aston Martin offers a fascinating extra dynamic.
All attention now turns to how world champions Mercedes will respond. The Silver Arrows’ parent company, Daimler, is under pressure to cut almost £1 billion from its costs by 2022, to meet the European Union’s tougher fuel-efficiency rules. As such, there are doubts over its long-term interest in staying in the world’s most extravagant sport. Aston Martin’s entrance to the party is likely to test that commitment more than ever.