Aston Martin wants to go to the top: Can Stroll make the step to the top teams?

Force India entered Formula 1 in 2008 under the leadership of Vijay Mallya. With Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella the team started at the very back of the grid, but ten years later it was already at the front of the midfield. Slowly the team climbed up, with the first points in 2009.

Dream comes true

From tenth, ninth and seventh place, the team slowly climbed up the ladder and scored more points almost every year (except in 2013 and 2015). Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg took the biggest step, with a fifth and fourth place in 2015 and 2016, making the step to the place of 'best of the rest'.

Despite many struggles between the teammates, Perez and Esteban Ocon also managed to keep that fourth place, after which things went wrong in 2018. Mallya couldn't escape all the accusations and his team went under guardianship when Perez filed an official complaint. Stroll took over and the ball has been rolling ever since.

Aston Martin to the top

In 2019 the results were not yet on the air in the transition year for the team, but from 2020 it had to happen. With a pink Mercedes, Racing Point wants to rejoin the midfield, to be the official Aston Martin factory team from 2021 onwards.

''In 2021, Aston Martin will take its place in F1, as a highly competitive factory brand in 60 years. This will give us a lot of prestige around the world and make our brand very strong to work with major brands," says Stroll to Racefans.net. It remains to be seen whether the ailing Aston Martin will actually have the budget to compete with the top teams.