Aston Martin F1 Team

Origins

The team's origins date back to the Jordan Grand Prix team that entered F1 in 1991. The team won four races and finished third int he 1999 Constructors' Championship. Financial problems eventually saw the team fall off the pace before team owner Eddie Jordan sold the team to the Midland Group in early 2005.

Renamed Midland F1 Racing, the team spent two seasons struggling at the back of the grid before owner Alex Shnaider sold the team to Spyker Cars midway through the 2006 campaign.

Spyker F1 scored a point in 2007 and briefly led the European GP, however financial woes saw the team sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya for €88 million. The team was renamed as Force India Formula One Team.

Force India

Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella served as the team's driver pairing for the 2008 season. The Force India VJM01 was an updated version of the Spyker F8-VIIB chassis with Ferrari engines, and thanks to an increased budget, the team set a goal of beating Super Aguri, who battled it out Force India's predecessors.

Fisichella finished 12th in Malaysia, the team's first finish after a double DNF in Australia. Sutil was in the running for points in the wet Monaco GP, however Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari and collided with the German, who retired. Super Aguri's withdrawal meant that Force India often found themselves at the back. The team ended the year without a point, their best finish coming thanks to Fisichella's 10th place finish in Spain.

Both drivers returned in 2009 while Force India made the switch to Mercedes engines after signing a five-year deal. Sutil almost scored the team's first points at the wet Chinese GP, holding sixth place in front of Lewis Hamilton and Timo Glock with six laps remaining. However aquaplaning saw the German go off track and crash out of the race.

Fisichella put Force India on pole for the first time in Belgium, finishing the race less than a second behind Ferrari's Raikkonen to give the team their first win, podium and points. The Italian left before the end of the season to race for Ferrari for the remainder of the season, with Vitantonio Liuzzi replacing him.

At the Italian GP, Sutil qualified second and Liuzzi qualified seventh. The former finished the race in fourth along with setting the fastest lap of the race. Force India finished the season ninth, level on 13 points with Toro Rosso.

The 2010 season saw Sutil and Liuzzi return, with the Italian picking up points thanks to a ninth-place finish in Bahrain. Both cars finished in the points at Monaco, the first time Force India had done so, and did it again in Canada a few races later. Several high-profile team members, technical director James Key being the biggest name, left during the season as Force India ended the year seventh with 68 points, just one back of Williams.

Paul di Resta was promoted from reserve driver to race seat in 2011, partnering Sutil. Although both cars finished out of the points in Australia, they were later promoted to ninth and 10th after both Sauber cars were disqualified for a technical infringement. The team's best finish was sixth, with Sutil finishing in that position twice compared to Di Resta's one. This helped Force India finish sixth in the Constructors' Championship with 69 points.

Di Resta returned in 2012 however Sutil was replaced with 2011 reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg. The team continued to build on their success, finishing in the points three out of a possible four times with both cars at the opening two events. Di Resta finished sixth in Bahrain, while Hulkenberg did one better with a fifth-place finish at the European GP. The best finish came courtesy of Di Resta, who finished fourth in Singapore, while Hulkenberg led the season-finale in Brazil and had built up a 45-second lead with Jenson Button, only to see it taken away due to the Safety Car. He finished the race in fifth while Force India ended the year seventh.

Sutil was brought back in 2013 as Hulkenberg departed for Sauber. The German finished seventh and Di Resta eighth at the season-opening Australian GP, giving Force India their best start to a season. The best result of the season came thanks to Di Resta's fourth place finish in Bahrain, just over two second back of Romain Grosjean for third. Force India once again finished the year with a solid haul of points, placing seventh with 77 points.

Consistently scoring with over 100 points a season

Di Resta was replaced by Sergio Perez while Sutil left for Sauber, with Hulkenberg coming back the other way and completing his return to Force India. The team started the season strongly, capped off by Perez's third-place finish in Bahrain - their first podium since the 2009 Belgian GP. The Mexican scored the team's third fastest lap in Australia, while the team finished the year sixth in the standings with 155 points.

Although the team only debuted the VJM08 on Day 2 of the third and final test at Barcelona ahead of the 2015 season, Force India had a somewhat strong start to the campaign. Hulkenberg finished seventh in Australia, however the team finished outside the points on several occasions. Things picked up in Austria, while the team introduced a highly modified B-spec car at the British GP that helped the team in high speed corners. Perez finished third in Russia, the team's first podium since the Russian GP. This helped Force India finish fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 136 points.

Perez and Hulkenberg returned for a third season in 2016 as Force India continued to establish themselves as a serious midfield threat. Perez scored two podium finishes, the first thanks to a third-place finish in Monaco and then another third at the European GP two races later. Both cars finished in the top five in Belgium, helping Force India finish the year fourth in the Constructors' Championship ahead of Williams.

Hulkenberg left in 2017 with Esteban Ocon brought in as his replacement after having driven for Manor in the second half of the previous season. A new sponsorship deal with BWT resulted in a livery change, with the team now sporting a pink design. Both drivers finished in the points at the opening five races, with Perez finishing fourth ahead of Ocon in Spain. Unfortunately the two came together several times over the course of the season. At the Azerbaijan GP the two cars collided with one another resulting in Perez retiring, while Ocon came home in sixth.

Another incident in Belgium while battling for position resulted in Ocon damaging his front wing and Perez getting a puncture. Ocon finished ninth while Perez once again was forced to retire. In the end the team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship for the second season in a row with 187 points.

Ownership change results in Racing Point Force India

Perez and Ocon returned for the 2018 campaign, however the team's early season form saw them finish in the points just once from the opening three races. Perez came home third in the Azerbaijan GP. That kicked off a run of four straight finishes in the points for the Mexican, however Ocon had to wait until the ninth race of the season in Austria for his first points of the year.

Force India were put into administration during the Hungarian GP weekend, with the legal action kickstarted by creditors, including Perez, in order to allow the team to continue operating while searching for a new owner.

The team were eventually purchased by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll. The consortium were only able to buy the assets of the team, resulting in Force India being excluded from the championship, replaced by the new Force India Racing Point outfit. The new team were unable to keep any of the points scored by the old team.

Force India Racing Point saw both cars finish in the points at their first two races, kickstarting a positive run to end the season that saw them score 52 points in nine races, good enough for seventh, compared to 59 in 12 for the previous incarnation of the team.

Racing Point

Prior to the start of the 2019 season, the Force India name was dropped, with the team competing as Racing Point F1 Team. Stroll and Perez were the team's drivers for the 2019 F1 season, scoring points at the first four races to go along with a double points finish in Azerbaijan. However the team struggled during the middle of the campaign, with Stroll finishing ninth in Canada and ending a run of six races without points.

Their best result came at the German GP where Stroll finished fourth after briefly leading as a result of tyre strategy. Racing Point's form improved from there following the introduction of significant upgrades in Belgium. Perez scored points in the final nine races bar Singapore, where he retired with an oil leak. This helped Racing Point leapfrog Alfa Romeo and finish seventh with 73 points.

Both drivers were retained fo the 2020 season, while BWT replaced SportPesa as the team's new title sponsor. The RP20 caused controversy during pre-season testing due to its resemblance to the Mercedes W10 that won the 2019 World Championship. A formal protest was launched against the RP20 following the Styrian GP, specifically the brake ducts which as per the rules must be designed by the team. Between the British and 70th Anniversary GP, the team were fined €400,000 and had 15 constructors points decided after Renault's protest was upheld.

On track, Racing Point found themselves consistently in the top 10 and very often in the top five. Stroll finished fourth in Hungary, while Perez was forced to miss the British and 70th Anniversary GP after testing positive for COVID-19 with Nico Hulkenberg brought in as his replacement. The German would also stand in for Stroll later in the year after the Canadian tested positive for coronavirus as well.

Stroll took the team's first ever podium at the Italian GP while claiming their first ever pole position at the Turkish GP. Although the Canadian led early on he came home in ninth, while Perez finished second behind Lewis Hamilton. The Mexican almost added another podium finish in Bahrain, however he retired late due to an engine failure, while Stroll failed to finish after being flipped upside down following a collision with Daniil Kvyat. It marked the only race where both cars failed to score a point in 2020.

The disappointment was transformed into jubilation the following week at the Sakhir GP. Perez took his and the team's first win while Stroll came home in third. It was the first time any incarnation of the team had won a race since the 2003 Brazilian GP, and the fifth for any incarnation.

Following Lawrence Stroll's purchase of a 16.7 percent stake in Aston Martin, the team were rebranded as Aston Martin F1 Team.

The old Aston Martin days

Aston Martin’s original F1 foray was in 1959 with the DBR4 at the Dutch GP. Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori struggled although the latter managed to qualify second at the British GP which remains Aston Martin's best qualifying result in F1 to date.

Maurice Trintignant raced in 1960 as Aston Martin failed to get the DRB5 ready in time for the first part of the season. Due to further poor results, Aston Martin abandoned F1 entirely after their home race at the 1960 British GP to focus on sports car racing.

Aston Martin's return to F1 as a title sponsor

Despite years of speculation in the late 2000s that Aston Martin would make their long-awaited return to F1 with Dave Richards, it never came to fruition. However, Aston Martin did return as a title sponsor for Red Bull between 2018 and 2020.

The Aston Martin branding was on Red Bull's car during the turbo-hybrid era when the team won several races with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Aston Martin's full return to F1

After 61 years, Aston Martin finally returned to F1 as a constructor in 2021. Led by new owner and CEO Lawrence Stroll and Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer, the green machine was back racing in the biggest form of motorsport.

The team's headquarters are in Silverstone with a new facility set to be built by 2022 including a new wind tunnel.

In terms of drivers, Sebastian Vettel took over Sergio Perez's seat in a surprise move despite the Mexican originally being under contract to drive for Aston Martin. Vettel signed a multi-year deal to drive for Aston Martin and the four-time world champion proved his worth by scoring the team's first ever podium at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP.

Lance Stroll made his F1 debut in 2017 and is Vettel's teammate at Aston Martin who have already had more success on their second spell in F1 compared to their first chapter.

Origins

The team's origins date back to the Jordan Grand Prix team that entered F1 in 1991. The team won four races and finished third int he 1999 Constructors' Championship. Financial problems eventually saw the team fall off the pace before team owner Eddie Jordan sold the team to the Midland Group in early 2005.

Renamed Midland F1 Racing, the team spent two seasons struggling at the back of the grid before owner Alex Shnaider sold the team to Spyker Cars midway through the 2006 campaign.

Spyker F1 scored a point in 2007 and briefly led the European GP, however financial woes saw the team sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya for €88 million. The team was renamed as Force India Formula One Team.

Force India

Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella served as the team's driver pairing for the 2008 season. The Force India VJM01 was an updated version of the Spyker F8-VIIB chassis with Ferrari engines, and thanks to an increased budget, the team set a goal of beating Super Aguri, who battled it out Force India's predecessors.

Fisichella finished 12th in Malaysia, the team's first finish after a double DNF in Australia. Sutil was in the running for points in the wet Monaco GP, however Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari and collided with the German, who retired. Super Aguri's withdrawal meant that Force India often found themselves at the back. The team ended the year without a point, their best finish coming thanks to Fisichella's 10th place finish in Spain.

Both drivers returned in 2009 while Force India made the switch to Mercedes engines after signing a five-year deal. Sutil almost scored the team's first points at the wet Chinese GP, holding sixth place in front of Lewis Hamilton and Timo Glock with six laps remaining. However aquaplaning saw the German go off track and crash out of the race.

Fisichella put Force India on pole for the first time in Belgium, finishing the race less than a second behind Ferrari's Raikkonen to give the team their first win, podium and points. The Italian left before the end of the season to race for Ferrari for the remainder of the season, with Vitantonio Liuzzi replacing him.

At the Italian GP, Sutil qualified second and Liuzzi qualified seventh. The former finished the race in fourth along with setting the fastest lap of the race. Force India finished the season ninth, level on 13 points with Toro Rosso.

The 2010 season saw Sutil and Liuzzi return, with the Italian picking up points thanks to a ninth-place finish in Bahrain. Both cars finished in the points at Monaco, the first time Force India had done so, and did it again in Canada a few races later. Several high-profile team members, technical director James Key being the biggest name, left during the season as Force India ended the year seventh with 68 points, just one back of Williams.

Paul di Resta was promoted from reserve driver to race seat in 2011, partnering Sutil. Although both cars finished out of the points in Australia, they were later promoted to ninth and 10th after both Sauber cars were disqualified for a technical infringement. The team's best finish was sixth, with Sutil finishing in that position twice compared to Di Resta's one. This helped Force India finish sixth in the Constructors' Championship with 69 points.

Di Resta returned in 2012 however Sutil was replaced with 2011 reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg. The team continued to build on their success, finishing in the points three out of a possible four times with both cars at the opening two events. Di Resta finished sixth in Bahrain, while Hulkenberg did one better with a fifth-place finish at the European GP. The best finish came courtesy of Di Resta, who finished fourth in Singapore, while Hulkenberg led the season-finale in Brazil and had built up a 45-second lead with Jenson Button, only to see it taken away due to the Safety Car. He finished the race in fifth while Force India ended the year seventh.

Sutil was brought back in 2013 as Hulkenberg departed for Sauber. The German finished seventh and Di Resta eighth at the season-opening Australian GP, giving Force India their best start to a season. The best result of the season came thanks to Di Resta's fourth place finish in Bahrain, just over two second back of Romain Grosjean for third. Force India once again finished the year with a solid haul of points, placing seventh with 77 points.

Consistently scoring with over 100 points a season

Di Resta was replaced by Sergio Perez while Sutil left for Sauber, with Hulkenberg coming back the other way and completing his return to Force India. The team started the season strongly, capped off by Perez's third-place finish in Bahrain - their first podium since the 2009 Belgian GP. The Mexican scored the team's third fastest lap in Australia, while the team finished the year sixth in the standings with 155 points.

Although the team only debuted the VJM08 on Day 2 of the third and final test at Barcelona ahead of the 2015 season, Force India had a somewhat strong start to the campaign. Hulkenberg finished seventh in Australia, however the team finished outside the points on several occasions. Things picked up in Austria, while the team introduced a highly modified B-spec car at the British GP that helped the team in high speed corners. Perez finished third in Russia, the team's first podium since the Russian GP. This helped Force India finish fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 136 points.

Perez and Hulkenberg returned for a third season in 2016 as Force India continued to establish themselves as a serious midfield threat. Perez scored two podium finishes, the first thanks to a third-place finish in Monaco and then another third at the European GP two races later. Both cars finished in the top five in Belgium, helping Force India finish the year fourth in the Constructors' Championship ahead of Williams.

Hulkenberg left for Ocon in 2017 with Esteban Ocon brought in as his replacement after having driven for Manor in the second half of the previous season. A new sponsorship deal with BWT resulted in a livery change, with the team now sporting a pink design. Both drivers finished in the points at the opening five races, with Perez finishing fourth ahead of Ocon in Spain. Unfortunately the two came together several times over the course of the season. At the Azerbaijan GP the two cars collided with one another resulting in Perez retiring, while Ocon came home in sixth.

Another incident in Belgium while battling for position resulted in Ocon damaging his front wing and Perez getting a puncture. Ocon finished ninth while Perez once again was forced to retire. In the end the team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship for the second season in a row with 187 points.

Ownership change results in Racing Point Force India

Perez and Ocon returned for the 2018 campaign, however the team's early season form saw them finish in the points just once from the opening three races. Perez came home third in the Azerbaijan GP. That kicked off a run of four straight finishes in the points for the Mexican, however Ocon had to wait until the ninth race of the season in Austria for his first points of the year.

Force India were put into administration during the Hungarian GP weekend, with the legal action kickstarted by creditors, including Perez, in order to allow the team to continue operating while searching for a new owner.

The team were eventually purchased by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll. The consortium were only able to buy the assets of the team, resulting in Force India being excluded from the championship, replaced by the new Force India Racing Point outfit. The new team were unable to keep any of the points scored by the old team.

Force India Racing Point saw both cars finish in the points at their first two races, kickstarting a positive run to end the season that saw them score 52 points in nine races, good enough for seventh, compared to 59 in 12 for the previous incarnation of the team.

Racing Point

Prior to the start of the 2019 season, the Force India name was dropped, with the team competing as Racing Point F1 Team. Stroll and Perez were the team's drivers for the 2019 F1 season, scoring points at the first four races to go along with a double points finish in Azerbaijan. However the team struggled during the middle of the campaign, with Stroll finishing ninth in Canada and ending a run of six races without points.

Their best result came at the German GP where Stroll finished fourth after briefly leading as a result of tyre strategy. Racing Point's form improved from there following the introduction of significant upgrades in Belgium. Perez scored points in the final nine races bar Singapore, where he retired with an oil leak. This helped Racing Point leapfrog Alfa Romeo and finish seventh with 73 points.

Both drivers were retained fo the 2020 season, while BWT replaced SportPesa as the team's new title sponsor. The RP20 caused controversy during pre-season testing due to its resemblance to the Mercedes W10 that won the 2019 World Championship. A formal protest was launched against the RP20 following the Styrian GP, specifically the brake ducts which as per the rules must be designed by the team. Between the British and 70th Anniversary GP, the team were fined €400,000 and had 15 constructors points decided after Renault's protest was upheld.

On track, Racing Point found themselves consistently in the top 10 and very often in the top five. Stroll finished fourth in Hungary, while Perez was forced to miss the British and 70th Anniversary GP after testing positive for COVID-19 with Nico Hulkenberg brought in as his replacement. The German would also stand in for Stroll later in the year after the Canadian tested positive for coronavirus as well.

Stroll took the team's first ever podium at the Italian GP while claiming their first ever pole position at the Turkish GP. Although the Canadian led early on he came home in ninth, while Perez finished second behind Lewis Hamilton. The Mexican almost added another podium finish in Bahrain, however he retired late due to an engine failure, while Stroll failed to finish after being flipped upside down following a collision with Daniil Kvyat. It marked the only race where both cars failed to score a point in 2020.

The disappointment was transformed into jubilation the following week at the Sakhir GP. Perez took his and the team's first win while Stroll came home in third. It was the first time any incarnation of the team had won a race since the 2003 Brazilian GP, and the fifth for any incarnation.

Following Lawrence Stroll's purchase of a 16.7 percent stake in Aston Martin, the team were rebranded as Aston Martin F1 Team.

The old Aston Martin days

Aston Martin’s original F1 foray was in 1959 with the DBR4 at the Dutch GP. Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori struggled although the latter managed to qualify second at the British GP which remains Aston Martin's best qualifying result in F1 to date.

Maurice Trintignant raced in 1960 as Aston Martin failed to get the DRB5 ready in time for the first part of the season. Due to further poor results, Aston Martin abandoned F1 entirely after their home race at the 1960 British GP to focus on sports car racing.

Aston Martin's return to F1 as a title sponsor

Despite years of speculation in the late 2000s that Aston Martin would make their long-awaited return to F1 with Dave Richards, it never came to fruition. However, Aston Martin did return as a title sponsor for Red Bull between 2018 and 2020.

The Aston Martin branding was on Red Bull's car during the turbo-hybrid era when the team won several races with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Aston Martin's full return to F1

After 61 years, Aston Martin finally returned to F1 as a constructor in 2021. Led by new owner and CEO Lawrence Stroll and Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer, the green machine was back racing in the biggest form of motorsport.

The team's headquarters are in Silverstone with a new facility set to be built by 2022 including a new wind tunnel.

In terms of drivers, Sebastian Vettel took over Sergio Perez's seat in a surprise move despite the Mexican originally being under contract to drive for Aston Martin. Vettel signed a multi-year deal to drive for Aston Martin and the four-time world champion proved his worth by scoring the team's first ever podium at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP.

Lance Stroll made his F1 debut in 2017 and is Vettel's teammate at Aston Martin who have already had more success on their second spell in F1 compared to their first chapter.