Aston Martin chief executive Lawrence Stroll expects to see a step forward from his team in its sixth year under his ownership.
Stroll has invested heavily in the team, which he rebranded as Aston Martin in 2021. The size of its workforce has doubled and it has constructed a massive extension of its premises, where it launched the new AMR23 for the upcoming season today.Speaking ahead of the car’s presentation the team’s billionaire owner said his goal is to create “one of the greatest Formula 1 teams that will be.”
“The building is one step, the people are another step,” Stroll explained. “We already had 400 very talented people that punched above their weight before. We’ve basically doubled that headcount. And we’ve added this incredible facility, nothing like it in Formula 1 today. It’s state of the art and doesn’t compare to anything else that exists.
“So the passion comes from excitement. And when I get excited about something, I get very passionate, and when I get very passionate, I win.”
Aston Martin finished seventh in the championship for the last two years in a row. Stroll expects them to make a step forward in 2023.
“We’ve already had some extraordinary people in the business, the team was successful before I took it over,” he said. “But the people we recently brought in with the people we currently had, are bringing this to a whole new level and as I say, looking forward to be fighting for world championships in the future.
“Formula 1, like any other businesses, is a journey. This will only be our third year in this journey and as I think everybody knows whether it’s Formula 1 or any other business it takes a little longer than three years but the plan this year is to make a step and next year make another step and the year after another step until we’re winning and ultimately fighting for world championships.”
Stroll believes the team has “most of the right ingredients in place” to reduce the gap to the front-runners. “The one ingredient we’re missing is a bit of time and there’s no replacement for time.
“But from a managerial executive level, from a personnel level, yes, I believe we have all the right people in place. This building brings a whole new dimension and dynamic to driving towards that success. And we just need to be – which I don’t have a great deal of – patient to get to where we ultimately want to be. We will get there.”
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Qeki (@qeki)
13th February 2023, 21:14
I though this was about Lance and not Daddy.
I kinda like the way he is thinking and telling every one that he is the best. He has same kind of wibes than Flavio back in the day. I’m just worried if Alonso is too early and Aston will get success after 2026
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
13th February 2023, 21:39
Then maybe he should start being passionate. More like, “I occasionally score points when I can be bothered to apply myself.”
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
14th February 2023, 8:10
@ryanoceros
Lawrence isn’t the one who scores the points, so he doesn’t need to collect any. The statements are made by him, not Lance and Lance is the one who needs to get the points.
AllTheCoolNamesWereTaken
13th February 2023, 21:43
That was Toyota’s goal, too. Look how well that turned out.
I wish Aston Martin all the best. I really do. The more teams we have fighting at the front, the better for the sport. But do I think they’ll get there? Let’s just say I’ll believe it when I see it.
PT
14th February 2023, 6:05
And also the Lotus F1 Team – particularly the part where they mix the enthusiasm for road car launches with enthusiasm for F1 success. Reminds me of Dany Bahar who headed Lotus Cars during the company’s foray into F1 after purchasing the Enstone-based Renault F1 team in 2011.
Dom (@3dom)
13th February 2023, 21:57
reminds me of this 😜
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
13th February 2023, 23:20
So they’ve saved many thousandths of a second by not painting the end of the nose, then they slap a big 110 Iconic Years sticker on it
(and put Lance in the car)…
PT
14th February 2023, 5:30
He sounds just like some of those larger than life Bond villains boasting about the empire they’ve built up. Still, I love this guy’s determination and passion towards Formula 1 as well as the road car business. I hope those wins and championships come soon, for Alonso’s sake.
Jazz (@jazz)
14th February 2023, 11:13
Was it just me, or has Lance $troll packed some weight on? Fernando on the other hand looked as lean as he’s ever been. This year I expect Fer will do exactly what he did to Vandoorne at McLaren.
MichaelN
14th February 2023, 11:25
Stroll had a pretty great appearance on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast a little over a year ago. If you can look past the North American bluster and Trump-like phrasing of some of his statements, he’s clearly both passionate and realistic (he repeats it here, too, saying not that they expect to win, but that they want to challenge for the title).
His big blind spot might be his son, because while he can somewhat justifiably say that Lance won in junior series if he had the car, Lance hasn’t really improved all that much since coming into the sport. He has this weird quirk with being very quick in slippery conditions, so if Aston Martin can make a 4th or so best car I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lance win an odd race if the conditions line up. But a title campaign is something else entirely.