F1 | Aston Martin, ambition in green that crashes at the red light Mercedes?

Boisterous words, real proclamations of victory full of beautiful hopes. Lawrence Stroll, owner of the Aston Martin car manufacturer and of the F1 team of the same name which is about to return to the Circus in style by painting Racing Point green, in a long interview with the BBC he did not hide the ambitions of the team based in Silverstone, speaking openly about progressive growth and global objective: 

"My goal with this, like other companies I've owned, is to win. One of the ways we will become world champions is to get kids to think and act as if we already are."

In short, Aston's entry is not a simple question of marketing, but is a serious and thoughtful project, with important resources and capital. Resources, as it happens, including human ones; In fact, the hiring of a multiple world champion and champion of the category such as Sebastian Vettel must be read and judged from the perspective of a winning image and technical growth.

You do not bring home, nor in principle could you afford to, one of the most successful drivers in the history of F1 (for those who have forgotten, Sebastian includes 53 victories and four world titles in his palmarès, plus three placings as vice world champion) if there weren't the conditions to build and consolidate a winning team, capable of allowing a driver of this level to express himself at his best.

Words, however, must be followed by facts, at least with a view to 2022. The Gordian knot for the former Racing Point is the all too close relationship with Mercedes, which is not only the supplier of the power unit, but much more. We have all seen the 2020 single-seater in its "similarity" to the Mercedes W10 and the same could be the case for the next car.

It's a bit like a dog chasing its tail, a technical-design paradox: being a satellite team of Mercedes allows Aston Martin to certainly be competitive, but at the same time it will prevent it beforehand to be able to aspire to become a “winner” itself. It's a traffic light Verde which turns red in front of the Mercedes wall.

Yet Stroll senior's words actually sound very different; Mercedes - which is also present in the control room, there is no point in hiding it, just think of Toto Wolff's shareholding in Aston - is never mentioned. In short, there is, at least in words, a clear break with the very recent past of Racing Point, which instead proudly flaunted its proximity to the Brackley squadron.

But it's not enough, it can't be enough. To this day the team remains to all intents and purposes a satellite team of Brackley, from which he doesn't seem to have the strength (nor probably yet the desire) to radically break away and walk on his own two feet. For this reason every proclamation appears vain and fatuous, if not grotesque. What is the point of talking about a global objective, when it is physically impossible to put the wheels in front of the team you depend on?

We will see what will change in 2022, if Aston Martin demonstrates the will to sever its relationship with Ineos-Stuttgart-Wolff and take the path of absolute independence, for now however this clear cut does not appear to have occurred. And indeed, the former Racing Point has every interest in entering the fight for the Constructors' podium by exploiting the potential of Mercedes.

Da Pink Mercedes a Green Mercedes the step is short and almost automatic, with an extra Vettel in the team which doesn't hurt, but in the same position as the parent company's B team. The road for 007 is still long.

Antonino Rendina

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