Aston Martin F1 executive chairman Lawrence Stroll says his deep-rooted passion is driving his ambition to transform his outfit into "one of the greatest Formula 1 teams that will be".
Aston Martin unveiled its 2023 contender – the AMR23 – at its base at Silverstone on Monday, and Stroll made clear that he expects his team to take a step forward relative to its rivals this year.
The Canadian billionaire has never been shy to wear his ambitions on his sleeve, and much less to put his money where his mouth is, investing heavily in his F1 team's resources and especially in the construction of a new state-of-the-art factory complex located on its Silverstone campus.
"The building is one step, the people are another step," said Stroll during Monday's launch.
"We already had 400 very talented people that punched above their weight before. We’ve basically doubled that headcount.
"And we’ve added this incredible facility, nothing like it in Formula 1 today. It’s state of the art and doesn’t compare to anything else that exists.
"We’re doing the same thing in the road car side of the business. We’ve introduced the greatest SUV in the world, the DBX and we’re about to launch all these great new sports cars.
"So the passion comes from excitement. And when I get excited about something, I get very passionate, and when I get very passionate, I win," he confidently added.
Aston Martin finished seventh in F1's Constructors' standings in the last two seasons.
But in year three of the team's five-year plan to join the battle at the front of the grid, Stroll expects to see a clear move forward from Team Silverstone, especially as Aston can now rely on a design department whose lead engineers have proven their worth elsewhere.
Technical director Dan Fallows worked for many years alongside Adrian Newey at Red Bull Racing, while deputy techncial director Eric Blandin transferred to Aston from Mercedes.
©AstonMartin
"We’ve already had some extraordinary people in the business, the team was successful before I took it over," he said.
"But the people we recently brought in with the people we currently had, are bringing this to a whole new level and as I say, looking forward to be fighting for world championships in the future.
"Formula 1, like any other businesses, is a journey. This will only be our third year in this journey and as I think everybody knows whether it’s Formula 1 or any other business it takes a little longer than three years but the plan this year is to make a step and next year make another step and the year after another step until we’re winning and ultimately fighting for world championships."
Asked if Aston Martin had in place all the right ingredients to fulfil its ambitions and reach its goals, Stroll said: "I think we have most of the right ingredients in place. The one ingredient we’re missing is a bit of time and there’s no replacement for time.
"But from a managerial executive level, from a personnel level, yes, I believe we have all the right people in place.
"This building brings a whole new dimension and dynamic to driving towards that success. And we just need to be – which I don’t have a great deal of – patience to get to where we ultimately want to be. We will get there."
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