Aston Martin has begun building its new Formula 1 factory which is due to open by the beginning of 2023.
Covering 37,000 square metres and built at a cost of £150-200 million, the massive expansion of its current premises next to the Silverstone circuit will include a new wind tunnel and simulator. As well as significantly improving the team’s facilities, it will bring staff currently spread across multiple locations together in a single place.A formal groundbreaking ceremony was conducted involving Aston Martin’s executive chairman Lawrence Stroll and team CEO Otmar Szafnauer along with JCB chairman Lord Bamford. Stroll promised his team’s factory will be “the only one currently fit-for-purpose with the financial regulations taken into consideration.”
The new premises was designed by Ridge and Partners and is being built in conjunction with Gardiner and Theobald. Two new buildings will be constructed adjacent to the existing facility, with a walkway connecting all three.
One new building will house the team’s design, manufacturing and marketing departments. Another will feature a new wind tunnel featuring an up-to-date steel-belt rolling road system and flow-imaging section area. The existing building will be repurposed to house staff facilities and the logistics department.
“It’s a brand new, fit-for-purpose campus,” he said. “It is the newest, state-of-the-art.”
“It will be the first 5G factory, be completely sustainable,” Stroll explained. “It will be a true smart factory in every sense of the word.”
He sees the expansion of Aston Martin’s premises as essential to the team’s goal of competing for the championship.
“This is really following suit in line with our aggressive and ambitious recruitment drive here,” Stroll said. “We will be able to have the headcount that we so desperately want and need, again, to fulfil my ambitions to fighting for world championships.
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“It will be an inspiring and empowering place in which to work, design, manufacture and hopefully win. So this is really the first major step in addition to what we’ve done to date as far as we’ve been able to in relation to premises.”
Stroll expects Aston Martin’s base will outstrip that of its rivals once it is complete.
“There has been nothing like it ever before in automotive, whether F1 or any other, certainly not in racing,” he said. “It shows my belief in the team, it confirms my ambitions, and it confirms my belief in Formula 1, because this is really an investment as well in Formula 1.”
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Ruben
14th September 2021, 7:50
Didn’t Ferrari build an entire new Gestione Sportiva in Maranello a few years ago? According to the architects (in the link) it doesn’t include the engine department and (obviously) the race track, but 17 years seems a bit of a stretch.
Qeki (@qeki)
14th September 2021, 8:46
Eddie Jordan would be proud.
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
14th September 2021, 12:09
Ridiculous , that would be like saying Ken Tyrrell would be proud if he could see Mercs success, team is so far removed from its origins due to multiple takeovers and management changes .
If anything Eddie Jordan should be angry with the fate of his team and what could of been. He wanted his team to be a full works partner with Honda similar to McLaren/Mercedes Williams/BMW as they had huge success with Honda Mugen engines but Honda went to BAR instead.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
14th September 2021, 22:58
Nah, I bet Jordan is having a laugh.
zulu134
14th September 2021, 9:00
Typical self indulgent tosh from Stroll. Bog standard office and warehouse space. You can’t design an office for the cost cap era (on top of ignoring that this was designed pre-the current cap level) and what on Earth does 5G mean in this context? It’s not a inspiring design is it? It could be on any business park anywhere in the country. In know which factory would motivate me the most driving up to it, and it’s further south, with a three letter abbreviation.
JJ
14th September 2021, 13:15
Any investment in F1 atm is a good one. Grow up
privateer
14th September 2021, 13:58
This doesn’t count toward the cost cap. Do you know anything? Or just spew nonsense?
jff
14th September 2021, 18:46
Some people can complain about anything.
Dkor (@dkor)
14th September 2021, 18:48
If you don’t know what 5G means in the context of a factory, maybe you could, I don’t know, look it up? I mean, literally googling “5G factory white paper” will give you multiple results explaining this in detail.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
14th September 2021, 22:59
Bog standard? Really?
Alvar (@alvarius)
14th September 2021, 9:36
Good for Aston Martin! On a side note, does anyone know how this interacts with the budget cap? Is the budget cap measured using depreciation values instead of cash flows? Or maybe the facilities are owned by another Aston Martin group entity, so the F1 team can only pay rent? Or through a sale-leaseback with a third party? I’m curious!
Martinuzzo
14th September 2021, 11:38
They possibly already recognized the cost of the new facility this prior to the cost cap, similarly to what Mclaren and Ferrari did.
jff
14th September 2021, 18:49
McLaren sold theirs I believe, and is leasing it back.
I guess (don’t know) the cost cap includes either the lease costs or the depreciation of the facilities. I doubt it will be cash flow based (there would be nothing left for the car).
oscar_nicero (@oscar_nicero)
14th September 2021, 10:02
I can’t stand these “how to do business in F1” lessons of Lawrence when, at the same time, has his son contracted in one of the most important roles in the team. It is a driver that not a single top team would hire because he is not specially talented (comparing with the top drivers of the grid) and is not commercially attractive.
It is like if Elon Musk was trying to compete with NASA while his son is piloting the rocket ships.
Krommenaas (@krommenaas)
14th September 2021, 10:34
Lance shouldn’t be in F1, but he’s improved enough to make a decent #2 driver. If ever they have a championship winning car, whoever they put in the #1 seat won’t mind having Lance as his teammate, I think.
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
14th September 2021, 12:56
oscar_nicero agree, the team should be called STROLLF1 because daddy virtually owns the team.
Stroll jnr is a talentless journeyman who only races in F1 due to his billionaire dads money, without that he would be at the back of the grid in a regional F4 series, yes he is competent in F1 but take virtually any 17 year old spend $100s millions on grooming him or her into being a race driver and you would get the same if not a better result.
here is a perfect example of how ridiculous strolls over funded journey into F1 has been thanks to daddy billionaire:
Strolll snr paid huge amounts to part own Prema Powerteam to create the best F3/F4 team possible including hiring the best engineers from F1 to work on lances F4 and F3 cars, brought multi million euro simulator for his son to practice on, used F1 motorhomes, paid for Giovinazzi’s gp2 seat ONLY to free up his seat in F3 so stroll can race, paid €50m a season for Williams seat, brought part of force India for his son to race renaming it Racing point and as he part owned Aston martin he renamed RP aston martin , spends millions on Public relations firms to improve his sons image and troll farms to spam messagebords saying how great his son is ..
Mazepin snr has done similar for his bigot son to race,
FIA and Liberty need to tackle this issue of billionare money and pay drivers taking seats from real talents.
If talent Oscar Piastri wins the 2021 F2 championship he will still miss out on a F1 seat due to his chinese rival Guanyu Zhou and his €1 billion war chest funding from the ccp..
H
14th September 2021, 13:14
You sound like a child
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
14th September 2021, 18:50
@ccpbioweapon Lawrence Stroll is the executive chairman and part-owner of Aston Martin (the road company), so calling the F1 team by the road car company he part-owns is logical.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
14th September 2021, 23:05
I think you might be a little late to the party here.
Rascasse
14th September 2021, 12:37
He’s commercially attractive because he’s backed by his Dad. Also, he’s holding his own against a four-time champ; I don’t rate him among the best but he deserves his place on the grid.
jff
14th September 2021, 18:55
Most people rated Lance Stroll higher than various other #2 drivers in top teams.
jff
14th September 2021, 18:59
This should be a (disagreeing) reply to the OP (and that weirdo with the Xi profile image)
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
14th September 2021, 10:12
I am surprised at the somewhat bitter nature of some of the comments above. Sure Zulu134, its not MTC. And ok @oscar_nicero you may have your own opinions about the quality of the driver line up.
But this is investment at a time that investment is hard to come by. It will generate jobs, not only in the F1 team but also in the construction industry.
Its a long term commitment to F1 at a time its extremely hard to get more teams or sponsors/business/manufacturers to join F1, in any capacity.
This is good news and one can only wish them the best of luck.
Postreader
14th September 2021, 12:31
Hear, hear. Unfortunately, the Racefans comment sections do have that Daily Mail feel of “old men yelling at clouds” most of the time.
SlovenianFamilies
14th September 2021, 17:31
Old men yelling at clouds. :-D That gave me a chuckle.
jff
14th September 2021, 19:02
Quite unfortunate indeed.
And I thought this was a good news non contentious article. But still some sour people found a reason to complain.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
15th September 2021, 21:58
Haha that made me chuckle! And a very apt description too 😆
bosyber (@bosyber)
14th September 2021, 18:08
And let’s not forget that as iconic as the MTC looks, they way it is built it turned out that putting in a new wind tunnel, and other modernisations (or extensions) weren’t easy or possible at all when needed, one reason McLaren had to live with quite an outdated one for a bit @pmccarthy_is_a_legend
Bringing all the bits of the team together in one location surely seems like a good thing to do; one might not like the marketingspeak of announcing it (not sure about others, personally I definitely grimaced a lot harder at the Ron-speak of Russell being ‘calibrated’ to compete w. Hamilton properly by Merc), but that’s fine; seems like a solid idea, Stroll senior has proved he can build a business so no reason to think this is a dud, so yep, let’s hope it works well enough that the team becomes a fixture near the front of the grid and thus stays around for a long while, with whatever drivers it has (and Vettel has been great off track, again, solid investment for the brand).
LoveTea
14th September 2021, 10:18
What does ‘5G Factory’ actually mean? Am I missing something or does it just mean that you’ll get a 5G signal anywhere in the building? Surely WiFi is preferable and more secure than 5G?
JohnH (@johnrkh)
14th September 2021, 10:25
Just as a side note, JCB is a leader in hydrogen fueled earth moving equipment, Lord Bamford himself is one of the leading proponents.
BasCB (@bascb)
14th September 2021, 13:45
Thanks for that note @johnrkh, that certainly does add to the picture.
bosyber (@bosyber)
14th September 2021, 18:11
Indeed that’s an interesting tidbit to know @johnrkh, I knew about the earth moving bit, but wasn’t aware of their hydrogen investment.
I can imagine that for those sort of machines, EV might be difficult to get done due to battery volume needed with the huge power they call for, interesting.
anon
14th September 2021, 19:13
On the contrary, there already is a fairly well developed range of battery powered construction equipment due to the tunnelling and mining sectors, which have been using that sort of equipment for decades. JCB, isn’t that pioneering in that sector – others, like Komatsu or Volvo, are equal or even ahead of JCB.
Michael A.
14th September 2021, 11:34
Yet more of England’s good farming country goes under concrete and whatever.
On the other hand, I hope it works well for the team.
F180 (@f180)
14th September 2021, 14:00
I see here a lot of jobs, good for England taking advantage of a sport of his. I agree that changing the landscape is cruel, farming is sorely needed, the land at least remains productive vs a useless mall, boring housing development or worst, plain deforestation to make paper to clean our mess and box our consumer habits.
Stephen Higgins
14th September 2021, 11:51
Given the James Bond connection I’m disappointed they didn’t build it in an extinct volcano or out at sea. At the very least I hope they have a shark pool in reception.
Mahesh (@m47e57)
14th September 2021, 12:50
Awesome, why not throw in some oompa loompas too!! Horner and Wolf can be fed to the sharks.
SlovenianFamilies
14th September 2021, 17:33
LOL. No sharks though, not the Canadian way, Lawrence would drown his detractors in a hidden vat of Poutine.
pastaman
14th September 2021, 12:47
As an American I will always root for Haas F1 Team, but this right here is the difference between wanting to win F1 championships and simply using F1 for advertising. I really wish an American team would come into the sport with the desire (read: investment) to actually try and win races.
Dan G (@dang)
14th September 2021, 15:54
Vettel won’t be happy with the lack of any cycling infrastructure in those renders (or any alternative to using cars to reach this factory at all).
Design-wise, it’s hardly the MTC, is it?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
14th September 2021, 18:56
@dang There’s already a side road that’s good for bicycles if it’s not rush hour. I wouldn’t have thought any changes were needed there.
Of course, the fact one has to use the A43 to get to the estate the factory on is a bigger obstacle…
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
14th September 2021, 16:13
I love everything about this except the fact that strolls are involved.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
14th September 2021, 16:21
Fantastic.
Lets rip up a load of pointless grass and stuff so we can make money.
It’s not like there are already empty factories nearby that we could use.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
14th September 2021, 18:57
@nullapax Not near enough, and besides the original planning permission for the land to be built upon was secured back in 2008 (and was being considered a decade prior). This is not a new idea…
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
14th September 2021, 19:09
Ahh – well that makes everything good then.
anon
15th September 2021, 10:40
What empty factories are meant to be in that area for them to use?
Roger (@rogerzzz)
14th September 2021, 17:53
I’m thoroughly impressed by the level of effort, ambition and commitment shown by mr Stroll and co.
He’s building a future frontrunning team, that’s for sure. These facilities should enable them to build a world class chassis. And Daimler would love to see Aston Martin and Mercedes AMG chewing it out at the front of Formula 1, so he won’t be down on Benz-power. The Beauty vs the Beast. Good man.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
14th September 2021, 18:36
This looks awesome.
More teams fight for wins the better..
Now they just need to hire James Bond to drive the car.
Balue (@balue)
14th September 2021, 19:25
I’m quite thrilled by this without being a special fan of the team or drivers, but just for having a serious entrant settling in for the long haul, especially a top brand like Aston Martin.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
14th September 2021, 20:10
Hopefully they’ll start designing their cars.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
14th September 2021, 23:10
I am also optimistic about this. It shows a dedication to the sport that I have nothing but admiration for.
Mog
14th September 2021, 21:44
Why are laurence and omar discretely sticking up their rude finger in that photo?
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
15th September 2021, 2:54
I must admit that I was initially a bit skeptical about Lawrence Stroll getting involved in F1, but given the investment that is being made, and his clear enthusiasm for the sport, I no longer see him as a temporary player.
Its great to see that the team finally appears to have a stable and potentially great future.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
15th September 2021, 4:37
Ah yes, what a great photo op.
Kinda over F1, the sport of rich old white men…