Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team have announced the impressive signing of Martin Whitmarsh, a very familiar name to the Formula 1 paddock who from the start of October, will be the Group Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin Performance Technologies.
Whitmarsh is best known in Formula 1 for his time at the Mclaren F1 Team from 1989-2014, where he took on a variety of roles including Group Chief Executive Officer but most famously as Team Principal from 2008-2014. Whilst under Whitmarsh, Mclaren launched Mclaren Automotive and Mclaren Applied Technologies, he was also Chairman of the Formula One Teams’ Association from 2009-2013.
Executive Chairman of the team Lawrence Stroll, is extremely pleased to have someone of Whitmarsh’s calibre, onboard with the Aston Martin project.
“I am very pleased to announce that Martin [Whitmarsh] will be joining us as Group Chief Executive Officer of the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies, from October 1st 2021.
“Martin will enjoy senior leadership responsibility and will assist and support me in setting the new strategic direction for Aston Martin Performance Technologies and its subsidiaries, including the crucial objective of leading the transformation of Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team into a Formula One World Championship-winning organisation within the next four to five years, and evolving it into a £1 billion business over a similar time period.
“Martin has enjoyed a long, successful and high-profile career, spanning the motorsport, automotive, aerospace, marine and renewable-energy sectors. Moreover, he is a proven winner in Formula One. He is therefore the ideal person for the job of working with me and our senior management team to lead and inspire our workforce to future success both on and off track.”
Whitmarsh is delighted to be joining the team which has its eyes firmly set on winning a world title, it is for this reason that Whitmarsh agreed to take on the role which he is very excited to start.
“I am delighted to have been appointed by Lawrence [Stroll] to the position of Group Chief Executive Officer of the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies, from October 1st 2021.
“I have known and admired Lawrence for many years, and I have always been extremely impressed by his formidable business acumen and his seemingly inexhaustible ambition. Equally, I have always respected ‘Team Silverstone’, if I can call it that, which has often punched above its weight under its various previous incarnations, and which now has the weight with which to punch harder than ever before.
“Lawrence intends Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team to win Formula One World Championships, plain and simple, and I would not have joined him in that endeavour unless I was utterly convinced that it was an entirely achievable aim. I know what it takes to win in Formula One, and, inspired by Lawrence’s leadership and backed by the skill, passion and resolve of the workforce, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure that our team becomes the winning operation that Lawrence is determined that it should be.
“Last but far from least, I am very enthused about the formation of the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies, under which corporate umbrella Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team will sit, and I am excited about the prospect of developing and applying our technical capabilities and intellectual property as a successful and profitable new business.”
