The big team tightrope that Aston Martin must walk

Money and the might of a major manufacturer behind you are no guarantee of world title success in Formula 1, as Toyota and BMW can attest to in recent grand prix racing history.

In fact, sometimes all the benefits of a massive chequebook can be wiped away by the downside of a corporate decision-making process that slows things down, layers of management that confuse communication lines and the added internal politics and friction that comes from staff fighting to be noticed.

It is why underdog teams have often done quite well with fewer resources: because the lean operation benefits from making quick calls with a good team spirit of everyone pulling in the same direction.

Indeed, that was one of the strengths of what is sometimes called ‘Team Silverstone’ – when it morphed from Jordan into a Force India/Racing Point operation that often became a thorn in the side of some bigger budget teams.

It earned a reputation as a team that could punch above its weight; whether it was snatching the occasional podium finish or even becoming a top squad annoyance in 2020 with its ‘Pink Mercedes’ that helped Sergio Perez to a maiden victory at the Sakhir Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez celebrates winning the 2020 Sakhir GP for Racing Point

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

But as the team has been injected with the extra cash and ambitions of Lawrence Stroll under its current Aston Martin identity, it now faces a challenge in ensuring it doesn’t shake off all the positives it had from its previous era in its quest to chase greater success.

For any organisation, a rapid expansion of staff and facilities brings with it growing pains, and risks destabilising an eco-system that served its purpose perfectly before.

In Aston Martin’s case, sure the added resources from Stroll have been a huge help, but the departure over the winter of team principal Otmar Szafnauer – who was a rock solid pillar for the squad for years – has prompted concern about uncertainties and some to suggest its path forward may not be as smooth as hoped.

"To win in F1, everything has to be in the right place, and a lot of moving parts have to come together" Lawrence Stroll

Stroll has openly talked about being patient for success as he has thrown huge resources behind a new factory, better infrastructure and more staff. But equally he is a man known not to have unlimited patience when it comes to reaching targets. Look how quickly he went from being embedded at Williams to going elsewhere.

Speaking at Aston Martin’s launch at Gaydon on Thursday he seemed accommodating of the time frame.

“We want to win, but we know that winning isn't easy,” he said. “That’s why we have a five-year plan to keep climbing and get to the top. To win in F1, everything has to be in the right place, and a lot of moving parts have to come together.

“The sport is constantly evolving and, unless you evolve with it, you’ll be left behind. You need the right people in every part of the team, and you need the right partners to help make it all possible. We’re going to do it as a team, because it takes the power of a team to be successful in F1.”

Lawrence Stroll laid out Aston Martin's targets for the 2022 F1 season at the team launch

Photo by: Aston Martin Racing

A state-of-the-art factory should be on tap later this year, with a new windtunnel to follow in due course.

They will help, but teams are always about people: what Aston Martin will need is to carefully manage the integration of new staff happens seamlessly, and without the team splitting into silos.

And all this comes ahead of a season that Sebastian Vettel thinks will be crucial for understanding the strengths of the team.

Its 2021 campaign was disappointing, as it fell back from that stellar 2020 season thanks to a combination of the new aero regulations and a decision to switch off 2021 development early.

Asked about the dangers of Aston Martin losing the ‘lean and mean’ strengths as it expands, Vettel was not too alarmed but understood that things would need time to settle down.

“If you say the past was lean and mean, then I hope that the present is not fat and nice,” he smiled.

“I think that the truth is the team is growing, obviously. Having a shuffle in management is always a bit of a hiccup or shake up, and it will take time to overcome.

“But hopefully we manage to pull together and, despite growing in size, becoming leaner, or more efficient in our processes.

“I think this year will be a true test for us. And we will see how good we are.”

Sebastian Vettel hopes Aston Martin can produce a smooth transition as the team expands

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

What the team does benefit from is stability at the top of the technical infrastructure, with chief technical officer Andrew Green fully committed to the task in hand and convinced that it needed investment if it was ever going to fight properly at the front.

“When we look at the way the team needs to be structured in order to achieve that, it’s clear that you need to invest in two things. You need to invest in the people and the tools,” he said.

“So we went about bolstering. We know we’ve got a lot of good people here. But they need more support, because we need to do more, effectively. We need more development, more research and development, in order to out-develop the top teams to be able to compete with them. Simple as that. That’s the reason why we went looking.”

"I think we’ve maintained broadly that same feeling in the factory, and the feeling of excitement in the factory now and the anticipation of moving forward is real" Andrew Green

He is mindful of the risks that can come from not managing expansion in the right way, but he points to one key element that he thinks can help Aston Martin avoid the pitfalls that other big squads have fallen into.

“It is tricky, it needs to be managed, but it basically just forces you to employ like-minded people,” he said.

“That’s what we’ve been doing. If we employ the same type of people, the same like-minded people that have that same outlook, it’s relatively easy. And I think we’ve achieved it.

“We have expanded. The expansion now is backing off, we’re getting close to reaching our peak now. It’s a case now of getting everyone to gel and working on the tools.

“I think we’ve maintained broadly that same feeling in the factory, and the feeling of excitement in the factory now and the anticipation of moving forward is real. It’s a real buzz here.

“We see it every day when we come into work now, there’s huge buildings going up around us with the new factory. So there’s a real excitement, a real buzz, and I think we can maintain that small team feel, even though we’re a bigger team.”

Bigger may not always be better, but it is clear Aston Martin feels it can make it work.

Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll eye up the Aston Martin AMR22 at the F1 team launch

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images