Aston Martin want to match top teams in development race

Aston Martin have set themselves lofty goals and aim to keep pace with the top teams Mercedes and Red Bull in the 2022 development war.

The British squad launched their new car, the AMR22 on Thursday as F1 embarks on anew era of technical regulationsthat have dramatically changed the look and feel of the cars.

The team raised eyebrows in the 2020 season under their previous guise as Racing Point, racing a near-replica of Mercedes’ 2019 car. The Silverstone-based outfit were regular front-runners and managed to claim a surprise victory at the Sakhir Grand Prix withSergio Perez.

However, the team endured a low-key 2021 season battling in the mid-field. After scoring a sole podium at theAzerbaijan Grand Prix, Aston Martin finished seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, dropping from fourth in 2020.

F1introduced a cost capfor the 2021 season, and the teams have had to curb their spending to within $145m, down to $140 this season, lower from the original figure of $175m.

Aston Martin’s chief technical officer Andrew Green is confident that the British squad can maximise their development with each team having a limited budget to work with.

“I hope now with the cost cap in place, we’ll be able to bring updates at least as frequently as Red Bull and Mercedes,” told select media including PlanetF1.

“We’re still working our way up to the cost cap, that’s for sure. We’ll be close this year, but we’ll be attacking it next year.”

With the then Force India team facing oblivion back in 2018, Lawrence Stroll secured a last-minute purchase that guaranteed their place for 2019 as Racing Point.

Stroll’s purchase has paid dividends with the Canadian business magnate renaming the squad to Aston Martin, and pumping fresh investment to secure new facilities.

Green is confident that the team is able to push on development throughout the season, without hitting the cost cap limit.

“The finances of the team are really strong; we’re not really cash limited anymore,” explained Green.

“我们是我们的资源有限,the tools we have at our disposal to develop the car and to make good decisions on developing the car.

“I think that’s really where we’re hindered slightly, and that’s what we’re working towards improving over the coming years.

“我不认为财政会阻止我们pgrading, I think it’s just our ability to come up with good ideas and develop those good ideas before putting them on the car.

“But I think you will see a lot of development on this car over the course of the season. A lot.”

Going for consistency, Aston Martin will field four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll for the 2021 campaign.

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