Racing Point 2020 car, previous to Aston Martin rebrand.
Aston Martin, as the British Car Manufacturer, has participated in Formula One in various forms—first participating in the 1959 season, until they left the sport a few races in after poor performance. Aston Martin returned to the sport in 2021, after racing team Racing Point was rebranded following the purchase of the team by Lawrence Stroll, following the team's financial troubles. The rebrand sparked new interest in the team, drawing title sponsors Cognizant and Aramco, among other sponsors, and after the team's increased on-track performance saw the team score more points in the previous season.
Aston Martin's AMR21 2021 car.
In the year previous to the rebranding, Racing Point was able to score their first race win as a team, towards a fourth finish in the Constructors' Championship due to the efforts of Sergio Perez. However, in the 2021 transition, Sergio Perez left the team to drive for Red Bull Racing, while Sebastian Vettel joined the team to drive alongside Lance Stroll. In 2021, the team scored less than half of their 2020 points tally, with Sebastian Vettel scoring the highest places as a podium Azerbaijan, plus fifth place finishes at Spa and Monaco. In 2022, the team is expected to return with the same driver lineup as the previous season, while using their new engineering capabilities to develop a more competitive car than previous seasons.
As part of Lawrence Stroll's takeover of the Racing Point team, he has invested heavily in developing the previously small team's capabilities to develop their vehicles, including building a new campus for development and a 60 percent wind tunnel, the largest allowed under FIA regulations, expected to be done by 2024.
Aramco joined the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 Team in 2022 in a long-term strategic partnership. Part of this partnership will include Aramco's development of highly efficient internal combustion engines and high-performance sustainable fuels, advanced lubricants, and non-metallic materials in the vehicles. The fuel development will be especially important as new regulations require teams to use 10 percent sustainable ethanol fuel in their mix, before the cars are intended to be completely fueled by sustainable fuels in 2025.
The new car for 2022 was developed to comply with the new technical regulations. This includes the focus on ground effect aerodynamics and simplified aerodynamic elements on the remainder of the car for closer racing. This also represents a departure in the development of the car, with Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant working with their own engineering team to develop unique items on the car, rather than purchasing elements from Mercedes, after the team raised some controversy over their 2020 car, which looked like a Mercedes clone. This car is further expected to perform better than the team's 2021 car, which, with regulation blocking the development that led to the team's competitive 2020 car, performed worse and exhibited the team's lack of development strength at the time, despite the development of new campuses and hiring of new engineers to continue strengthen that weakness.
Aston Martin's 2022 F1 car, showing drastic changes from previous car.
