Aston Martin with Vettel, but without copying, on its way to top three in 2021?

Especially in the long term, Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin's project looks promising. The Silverstone factory is undergoing a major refurbishment, the Aston Martin name gives the team a bit more status and the connection with Mercedes means that they have a front row seat to take over the position of the factory team should Mercedes decide to leave the sport in the future.

Will the Vettel of old return to Aston Martin?

For now, none of this is happening, but even in 2021, Aston Martin has a chance to pull away from the midfield. Something it already did at times in 2020. Not so much during the weekend that Sergio Perez won his first Grand Prix, but in Hungary and Turkey, where they may have even had a faster car than Mercedes.

Moreover, with Sebastian Vettel they now have the most successful F1 driver after Lewis Hamilton. Whether he will find the speed of his time at Red Bull Racing remains to be seen, but if the car works well he should be able to make things extremely difficult for his old team.

Copying is no longer allowed

For that, however, they must first beat their midfield competitors. McLaren is in at least the same position and it is unlikely that Ferrari will have such a bad year again. In that fight, Aston Martin does have a significant handicap compared to last year. Although the cooperation with Mercedes is still close, they are no longer allowed to copy the car of the world champions. The FIA is now going to keep a close eye on this.

With all that in mind, Aston Martin will not be so concerned with attacking the absolute top, but it will be going all out to secure third place in the championship. Had it not been for the penalty for copying, it would have succeeded last season.