Get to know the Aston Martin F1 team, including drivers Lance Stroll and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
It took more than 60 years, but Aston Martin’s official return to Formula 1 last year not only felt right but ended a rather turbulent 30 years for the Silverstone, England-based auto racing outfit.
Aston Martin raced in F1 as far back as 1959, but you might trace the organization’s modern lineage to 2007 when Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol purchased Spyker F1 and rebranded the team as Force India. Several quality drivers earned their F1 debuts with the team, including Nico Hülkenberg, Sergio Perez, and Esteban Ocon. The outfit ultimately went into administration in 2018 when legal and financial issues facing Vijay Mallya came to a head; in strolled Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll, who rechristened the team as Racing Point.
With Perez and Lance Stroll — Lawrence’s son — competing as drivers, Racing Point finished No. 7 in the Constructors’ Championship in 2019 before improving to fourth in 2020 — a campaign that included a Perez win at the Russian Grand Prix. After the elder Stroll purchased 16.7% of British automaker Aston Martin later that year, the team rebranded again for 2021, marking the first time Aston Martin competed in F1 as such in six decades.
Let’s get to know the racing organization officially known as the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team.
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History of Aston Martin in Formula 1
Founded: 1959
Previously known as: Force India, Racing Point
Headquarters: Silverstone, England
Owner: Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC
Key sponsors: Akrapovic, Alcon, Cosworth, Gtechniq, Hackett, HMG Paints LTD, Immun’age, K&N Filters, Juniper Networks, Lifeline, Michelin, Ohlins, Ontime Automotive, P&O Ferries, Pagid Racing, Prodrive, Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, Schroth, Sparco, Spirent Communications, Super B, Total, TWS Forged, Wincanton Print.
Aston Martin first put a Formula 1 car on the road in 1957 but didn’t feature in world championship competition until 1959, a season that saw the legendary Carroll Shelby behind the wheel of the company’s DBR4, a car that was admittedly less-than-state-of-the-art. The results showed. A new car was in the works for 1960, but new problems produced the same dismal results.
Following the ’60 British Grand Prix, Aston Martin walked away from Formula 1.
Decades later, from 1991 to 2005, Eddie Jordan’s Jordan Grand Prix team won four races and finished as high as third in the Constructors’ Championship in ’98. The Midland Group took over the team for 2006, then by Spyker in 2007. What followed was the Force India/Racing Point era that pointed us toward where we are today. After a notable switch to a Mercedes engine, Force India finished fourth in the Constructors’ in 2016 and ’17.
Sergio “Checo” Perez produced several of the team’s biggest moments in these years, but he wouldn’t stick around for the Aston Martin era, departing for Red Bull to pair with Max Verstappen starting in 2021. He was replaced by four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Sticking with a Mercedes powertrain, Aston Martin slipped to No. 7 in the Constructors’ Championship standings in 2021, but Vettel’s runner-up finish at Azerbaijan that season provided a reason for celebration. His pairing with Lance Stroll continues into 2022.
2022 Aston Martin F1 Drivers
Sebastian Vettel
- No. 5 car
- Four-time F1 world champion, all in consecutive years (2010-13); tied for No. 4 all-time among drivers
- Holds all-time records for most wins in an F1 season (13, tied with Michael Schumacher), consecutive wins (9), and pole positions in a season (15)
What else can we say about Vettel? He’s one of F1 racing’s relatively elder statesmen now at age 34, but Young Seb was an absolute prodigy in the racing game. He’s the youngest driver ever to win a world championship (as well as a second, a third, and a fourth), the youngest driver to win a pole, and the youngest to win the “hat trick” of pole, race, and fastest lap. He’s simply one of the greatest ever to do it.
Oh, and he willingly got fined by the FIA for riding a scooter on the track down in Melbourne. Legend.
Lance Stroll
- No. 18 car
- Youngest rookie and second-youngest driver ever with a podium finish (2017 Azerbaijan GP)
- Career-best seven consecutive points finishes in 2020
Lance Stroll’s heard the criticism. The allegations of nepotism. But what’s a young lad to do — other than earn three F1 podiums and a pole position by the time he was barely 22 years old?
Nico Hülkenberg
- No. 27 car
- Member of Porsche team that won 2015’s 24 Hours of Le Mans
- Finished career-best seventh in 2018 Drivers’ Championship with Renault
A test driver for the team, Hülkenberg subbed in for Seb when the legend was sidelined by COVID at the start of the 2022 campaign. He’s the owner of one Formula 1 pole and two fastest laps.
Aston Martin’s F1 Championships & Milestones
Numbers reflect results through the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
As Aston Martin (1959-60; 2021-present)
Constructors’ Championships: 0
Drivers’ Championships: 0
All-time Formula 1 wins: 0
F1 podiums: 1
F1 poles: 0
F1 fastest laps: 0
As Force India/Racing Point (2008-20)
Constructors’ Championships: 0
Drivers’ Championships: 0
All-time Formula 1 wins: 1
F1 podiums: 10
F1 poles: 2
F1 fastest laps: 5
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