2021 was Team Silverstone’s first season in Formula 1 under the banner of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team. There had been very high hopes and expectations for the team going in and they had every reason to feel that way. 2020 saw a 3rd place finish in the constructors’ championship thanks to the speed of the controversial ‘Pink Mercerdes’ and stunning performances from Sergio Perez. The team had also made the decision to sign 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel in Perez’s place, a signing that was also somewhat controversial but brought one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen into the team. There was also that incredible launch event, easily one of the glitziest of the year and one where team boss Lawrence Stroll made it very clear that Aston Martin in Formula 1 was a serious long-term project that was determined to get great results in the future.
Unfortunately, that ambition didn’t end up getting realised in 2021. There’s absolutely no denying that Team Silverstone took a step backwards that year compared to where they were in 2020. In fact, it was quite depressing in a lot of ways to see how little the team achieved relative to the year before. Still, though, there were some positive moments in Aston Martin’s 2021 campaign. It was also refreshing to finally see Sebastian Vettel in a team environment where, after the horror that was his final season at Scuderia Ferrari, he seemed comfortable and happy to be there.
The Highs
Whilst the team went winless this year, there were still some moments of brilliance that showed that maybe the renewed spark that Lawrence Stroll brought to Team Silverstone when he took over hasn’t completely gone away. Perhaps the most significant was Sebastian Vettel‘s incredible 2nd place finish at Baku. After an initially very shoddy start to the 2021 season that made some people question whether he really was still Formula 1 material, the 4-time world champion proved exactly why he is one of the best. His driving during that race was sublime and the car seemed to take the notoriously tricky street circuit well, better even than the Red Bull and Mercedes machinery at points!
Another place where Aston Martin found great results was Monaco. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll both ended up finishing in the points during that race and, much like Baku, the car really seemed to find a great groove on the tight street circuit. Again, Vettel especially shined during this race, pulling off some amazing racecraft that earned him a well-deserved 5th place.
In fact, Vettel’s performance in 2021 as a whole could be considered as a high for the team as, despite getting several DNFs and the one DSQ in Hungary, he managed to score more points in his first season with Aston Martin than he did in his final season at Ferrari. This is impressive when you consider that it could be argued that, in some ways, the 2021 Aston Martin was actually worse than the 2020 Ferrari! It really speaks volumes about how much more comfortable Vettel found himself at Team Silverstone in just his first year there.
The Lows
As a team that ran a car with a low-rake design, Aston Martin was one of the multiple teams that were heavily affected by the new aero regulations. This, combined with a car that was still essentially a 2-year old design, meant that Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll struggled quite a lot to even get into the points on some weekends. There was also the spectre of Vettel’s disqualification in Hungary due to there not being enough fuel left in the car to take a sample (which many fans thought was completely unfair) and a DNF from Stroll in the same weekend. Both of those events would have definitely caused a big hit to the team’s morale.
Whilst it happened outside of the 2021 season, the rather frosty departure of long-time Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer (who had been with Team Silverstone since 2009) early on in 2022 didn’t exactly help the team’s image. This was only made worse when Szafnauer vehemently denied the rumours that he was leaving the team to go to the Alpine F1 Team via social media, only for his departure from Aston Martin to be announced just weeks later. This, combined with the departure of Marcin Budkowski on Alpine’s side of things, has only exacerbated the rumour mill. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we hear the truth behind everything that’s been going on…
Whilst his replacement Mike Crack is no doubt a man who is more than qualified for the job, Szafnauer had been a welcome mainstay of the paddock who mostly kept things uncontroversial and on the straight and narrow. That’s something that goes a long way in the ultra-political world that is Formula 1 and something that’ll definitely be missed if Szafnauer ends up taking a job outside of the F1 circus.
Qualifying Battle
When it came to the qualifying battle between the two drivers, Sebastian Vettel was the one who definitely came out on top. The 4-time world champion managed to get the largely uncompetitive Aston Martin car into Q3 multiple times during the season. Whilst Lance Stroll did manage to get into Q3 multiple times too, he wasn’t starting races in the top 10 as much as Vettel was. Vettel also outqualified Stroll in every weekend that used the new Sprint Qualifying format, clearly showing the importance of the huge amount of experience he has gained from over a decade in Formula 1.
Race Battle
When it came to the races, Lance Stroll was definitely the more consistent of the two Aston Martin drivers. Whilst Sebastian Vettel may have finished higher in the drivers’ championship standings thanks to his amazing 2nd place finish in Baku, Stroll was more consistently in the points during race weekends and finished more races than Vettel did. This is to be expected, however; it was Vettel’s first year with Team Silverstone and he was having to adapt to driving a new car as well as try to do his best during the races. Of course, Vettel’s disqualification in Hungary was very unfortunate and shouldn’t really be counted here as part of the battle between the two teammates. If the result had stood, Vettel would have gained another second place finish in 2021.
Results
| Round | Vettel Qualifying | Vettel Race | Stroll Qualifying | Stroll Race |
| Sakhir | 20th | 15th | 10th | 10th |
| Emilia-Romagna | 13th | DNF | 10th | 8th |
| Portugal | 10th | 13th | 17th | 14th |
| Spain | 13th | 15th | 11th | 11th |
| Monaco | 8th | 5th | 13th | 8th |
| Azerbaijan | 11th | 2nd | 19th | DNF |
| France | 12th | 9th | 19th | 10th |
| Styria | 14th | 12th | 9th | 8th |
| Austria | 11th | DNF | 9th | 13th |
| Great Britain | 8th (via Sprint Qualifying) | DNF | 14th (via Sprint Qualifying) | 8th |
| Hungary | 10th | DSQ | 12th | DNF |
| Belgium | 5th | 5th | 19th | 20th |
| The Netherlands | 15th | 13th | 12th | 12th |
| Italy | 11th (via Sprint Qualifying) | 12th | 12th (via Sprint Qualifying) | 7th |
| Russia | 10th | 12th | 7th | 11th |
| Turkey | 10th | 18th | 8th | 9th |
| USA | 18th | 10th | 13th | 12th |
| Mexico | 9th | 7th | 20th | 14th |
| Brazil | 11th (via Sprint Qualifying) | 11th | 15th (via Sprint Qualifying) | DNF |
| Qatar | 10th | 10th | 12th | 6th |
| Saudi Arabia | 17th | DNF | 18th | 11th |
| Abu Dhabi | 15th | 11th | 13th | 13th |
What to expect in 2022
As Lawrence Stroll has made very clear ever since Team Silverstone’s rebranding, the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team is a long-term project with seriously lofty ambitions. Those ambitions are something that the team will be looking to further during 2022, especially considering the massive changes in the technical rulebook and the ongoing construction of its new factory. With the grid almost effectively being reset, Aston Martin could use its newfound resources and its partnership with Mercedes to build a car that’s more successful than the one it brought to the grid in 2021. With new Team Principal Mike Crack in charge, input from higher up the chain of command from former McLaren man Martin Whitmarsh and a new member of the design team in ex-Red Bull man Dan Fallows, we could see an Aston Martin with a lot more energy and morale going into the 2022 season. There’s no doubt that Sebastian Vettel will feel like a rejuvenated man too, now that he’s in a team that gives him the happy and healthy environment he needs to perform at his best.
