Aston Martin Lagonda extends sponsorship of F1 team until 2030

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In the round-up: Aston Martin Lagonda will remain sponsors of their branded F1 team until 2030

In brief

Aston Martin Lagonda extends sponsorship of F1 team

Aston Martin Lagonda, the production car wing of the larger Aston Martin group of companies, has extended its sponsorship of the Aston Martin F1 team until 2030.

The Silverstone-based team, who previously competed as Racing Point from 2018 after falling into adminstration as Force India and being bought out by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll, has raced in Formula 1 as Aston Martin since 2021.

Aston Martin Lagonda also purchased shares in the F1 team last November. The team announced last week that it had extended its contract with driver Fernando Alonso until at least the end of the 2026 season.

Piastri sure gap to Red Bull closing

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McLaren driver Oscar Piastri says he is confident that all of Red Bulls rivals are catching up to Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez despite the team winning three of the first four rounds of the 2024 season.

“I think generally everyone – certainly the teams around us – seem to be a bit closer to Red Bull,” Piastri told the Fast and the Curious podcast.

“I think we still have a decent amount of work to do, but we’re definitely closer than I think we were last year. You look at the qualifying delta – even in Japan, I think last year we were half a second off Verstappen for pole and this year I think Lando was just under three tenths. So we’re getting closer. I would say there’s a bit more optimism around everyone.”

Alpine sign Anurag to academy

Alpine has announced it has signed 16-year-old Singaporean driver Kabir Anurag to their driver academy.

Anurag is racing in the Italian F4 and Euro 4 championships for this season, having raced in the Formula Winter Series across February and March, where he placed 14th with two fifth place finishes across 11 starts.

“It is an honour to have the support and trust of Alpine and have the opportunity to work with the team’s driver development programme to progress in my career both on and off the track,” Anurag said. “I will be starting my rookie season in Italian F4 and Euro 4 this year, and I am looking forward to showing what I can do in Alpine colours.”

Rosberg launches $75m venture fund

Nico Rosberg, the 2016 Formula 1 world champion, has announced he has launched a $75m (£60m) venture capital fund that he claims will be used to support ‘innovative startups’.

Rosberg Ventures will support other venture capital funds by contributing from a pot of funds raised by by the former driver and other partners.

“Our partner investors are European families who own large companies,” Rosberg said in a post on social media. “We will be selectively building the bridge between these and the world’s leading startups to.”accelerate progress and transformation.”

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Comment of the day

With Formula 1 looking no closer to weaning itself off its addiction to DRS, David wonders if the sport’s technical wizards are too smart to make overtaking any easier at the highest level…

You’ve captured exactly how “racing” looks in the current DRS-dominated era. Trains and slam-dunks.

But without DRS there would be no overtaking at all.

Time and time again F1 has announced rule changes to make it easier to follow. Time and time again it makes no difference to how easy it is to pass.

The answer is a simple one but one that for some reason the regulators are incapable of making: A massive restriction in aerodynamics, and a massive restriction on braking power.

All this fiddling around the edges has done nothing. The engineers are too smart, and the engineers have no interest in racing. They want to win, and they want to build fast cars.

Ground effects were a mistake. Increased car dimensions were a mistake. Over-complicated hybrid systems were a mistake.

Perhaps 2026 will see a simplification that makes the cars more raceable? I doubt it.

But let’s not overlook that there is still some excellent racing in F1. It’s just that we would all like to see a bit more of it.
David

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Andrewtanner, Solid, Braddersf1, Rumfresh and Cristian Ingles!

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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2 comments on “Aston Martin Lagonda extends sponsorship of F1 team until 2030”

  1. notagrumpyfan
    18th April 2024, 7:38

    Interesting article on Neural Concept.
    Maybe Rosberg can get into their series B; I’ll have a look as well.

  2. Nick T.
    19th April 2024, 9:44

    David is dead right on how massively overlooked braking power is in terms of its impact on the ability to pass. When the braking zone is reduced to 30 meters or whatever, it makes passing exponentially more difficult.

Comments are closed.