F1 Talk: Is Stroll’s Takeover a Resurgence, or Temporary Bandage, for Aston Martin?

Racing Point is set to become the Aston Martin works team for the 2021 Formula 1 season after Lawrence Stroll’s overnight investment into the British automobile brand.

With Aston Martin in significant financial strife, the Stroll consortium made a £182m investment for a 16.7% stake in Aston Martin.

Stroll will now become Aston Martin’s Chairman, replacing Penny Hughes; although, Andy Palmer is expected to remain CEO of the sportscar giant.

“I look forward to working with the board and management team to continue to invest in the development of new models and technologies and to start to rebalance production to prioritize demand over supply.” – Lawrence Stroll

This move comes just 18 months after after Stroll’s consortium took control over the struggling Force India Racing squad, with the team rebranded as Racing Point F1 Team.

Now the Canadian billionaire has once again made a significant investment at the right time which it is hoped will revitalize the struggling company.

Stroll is one of many investors putting money into the marquee, with £318m set to be added from existing investors after a dreadful 2019 for Aston.

It will be Racing Point’s third different name in 3 years, after taking over operations from Force India and Vijay Mallya in 2018. The move coincides with Aston Martin’s decision to reintroduce their young driver academy last week and their sponsorship of the BRDC Autosport Award for the best of young British racing talent in 2019.

Penny Hughes told the BBC:

“The difficult trading performance in 2019 resulted in severe pressure on liquidity which has left the company with no alternative but to seek substantial additional equity financing.

“Without this, the balance sheet is not robust enough to support the operations of the group.

“Notwithstanding recent weak trading, the strength of the Aston Martin brand and our expanding portfolio of cars has allowed us to attract a strong new partner in Mr Stroll to support the turnaround of the business.”

But with Aston Martin saved from the perils of an uncertain market, Stroll seems to have his ambitions elsewhere as the Stroll consortium own Sport Pesa Racing Point F1 Team, the British outfit is set to be renamed for 2021.

Stroll’s son Lance drives for Racing Point alongside experienced Mexican racer Sergio Perez. Perez has a long-term contract with the team and Lance is expected to remain at the outfit for the forseeable future.

So while the team has a long-term contract to be supplied with Mercedes engines, as the outfit will become a works Aston Martin team next year, the question will be whether the British car maker can compete with the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull when it enters the world of F1.

Can Aston Commit to the F1 Project

Red Bull Racing has a major sponsorship deal with Aston Martin after Adrian Newey designed the Aston Martin Valkyrie. The sponsorship deal with the British car maker will last until the end of the year, with Racing Point to become a works team for the 2021 F1 season.

The move away from Red Bull is significant for Aston Martin. Their partnership with the fellow British outfit preceeds the engine deal made with Honda and should have been prime candidates to take on the role after Red Bull’s move away from Renault. What is there to suggest Aston Martin will commit to building engines now they’re with another team.

Stroll is an astute businessman and like Toto Wolff is more invested in the financial potential of F1 than the engineering. Whether Aston Martin will become more than a glorified sponsor is yet to be seen, though they have for the time being commited to building a V6 Hybrid.

In an exclusive interview with Autocar shortly after the announcement, Andy Palmer spoke about the move and how Aston Martin will sacrifise their Electric programme to focus on hybrids. Asked whether this was a good idea for the company, Palmer said;

“You also have to remember that none of our competitors, bar Porsche, will have an electric car on sale before 2025. So we are on a pretty similar timeline to them, and at the vanguard of the luxury market still. The money we have is going on making the mid-engined programme as good as it can be. The rest will follow.”

A Dent in Sportscars?

They certainly have the technical ability. Aston Martin have a long history in Sportscars, notably taking both the GT3 and GT4 titles in last years British GT Championship. On an international level they have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times since 2007 and also have the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans on their records.

Formula One is no stranger to them either, with David Richards announcing his intent to enter F1 in 2010 during the wave of new teams, while the Red Bull deal gave them plenty of exposure to the market.

This does open the door to what to do about the Sportscar market though. Aston Martin has been a major name in the World Endurance Championship, currently leading the GTE-Pro standings. Their success domestically and internationally (winning the Pro-Am class of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup last year) is more than proven, but money may be required for the F1 project. The most obvious casualty may be the in-development Hypercar for WEC.

Renault notably cut its support of most of its series, including feeder series Formula Renault, after recommiting to F1 in 2015.

Like Renault though, Stroll and Aston Martin will not be there to remain a midfield team though and ambitions are now in place to move towards the front of the grid.

“It gives us a challenge and, if you talk to Mr Stroll, then you’ll quickly learn he isn’t in the paddock to just turn up. He is investing in the team to win, and we wouldn’t want to be involved with a team that didn’t have a chance of at least podiums.” – Andy Palmer.

Five years after their return, Renault are no closer to the front of the grid and the manufacturer is getting short of time and patience. Aston Martin is not set up to fail, yet if silverware is not achieved in the coming years, pulling out could be an option. Stroll’s investment is short term and Aston will still need to make bank on their range of cars, which means ensuring Valkyrie or Valhalla is a success. For Aston Martin or Stroll, leaving F1 are on the table, but for F1, two teams leaving could create problems for a competitive grid.

For F1, getting new engine suppliers is half the battle. The other half, is keeping them.

This post was a collaboration between Nathan Hine and Connor Jackson, keep up to date with Motorsport Radio for all the latest news and analysis.