Team analysis | Will Aston Martin leave the doldrums with Lawrence Stroll?

F1 season of 2021

For Aston Martin, 2021 was a year to quickly forget. The team that often managed to perform above average on a small budget under the Force India and Racing Point name, didn't maintain their spot in the sub-top despite more money from Lawrence Stroll. There were many complaints from the team about the (detrimental) rule changes in 2021, but the team was basically ignored by everyone in that fight.

The team had simply missed the mark on the new parts for 2021 and fell even further back than it had already in 2020. There was a highlight for Sebastian Vettel when he was allowed to go to the podium in Azerbaijan and repeated it in Hungary. However, Vettel lost second place in Hungary due to a disqualification.

The fact that Aston Martin finished behind AlphaTauri must sting with the British team, but there are more problems internally. Otmar Szafnauer could no longer work "under this management". In doing so he did not mention the name of Lawrence Stroll, but everyone knows that Lance's father was meant. Szafnauer now works for rival Alpine, while Mike Krack is the new team boss of Aston Martin.

Winter test

The winter test went as you would expect from a team with internal struggles: difficult. Aston Martin stood still more often than they would have liked and completed 608 laps over six days. This ultimately put it in fifth place in the rankings. However, the problems that caused the car to stall on several occasions are causing despair.

The car of Vettel and Stroll also looks difficult to drive. Although it was a lot better in Bahrain than it was in Barcelona, the bouncing is still evident and the car is difficult to steer into corners.

Aston Martin in 2022

Other than a new team boss, not much has changed at Aston Martin. The car is still green, although the pink of BWT has now disappeared to Alpine along with Szafnauer. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll will also step into the AMR22 in 2022, with Nico Hulkenberg still as the reserve driver.

In 2021, Vettel's arrival was somewhat disappointing after all. After Sergio Perez had already beaten his teammate Stroll for two years, the four-time world champion had more trouble with that. The German eventually scored more points (43-34) and won the qualifying duel (14-8) from his teammate, but the average difference of 0.072s per qualifying was not convincing. Perez had closed a gap of more than three tenths in those years before.

In 2022, however, Vettel has had a year to make the team his own and get used to the car. As an experienced driver, he now has to bend the team to his will, but the question is whether that will work with the owner's son as your teammate.

Expectations

Although Aston Martin made a much better impression in Bahrain than in Barcelona, you cannot expect the team to be able to make the step up to the top in 2022. Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and probably McLaren are too high. In the midfield, Williams, Alpine and AlphaTauri seem to be the biggest competitors. Especially AlphaTauri and Williams made a better impression than Aston Martin in the test days.

It will therefore mainly be a question of to what extent Aston Martin can further develop the car during the season. The team, led by Lawrence Stroll, wants to connect with the top and will have to show that they can handle that level. If they are now passed again by other teams, then that will raise questions about the new path that has been taken.