TOUGH AT THE TOP
When the Aston Martin name returned to the Grand Prix grid in Bahrain in March for the first time in over six decades, expectations were high. Under its previous guise as Racing Point the team had won a race at the same venue just a few months earlier, albeit helped by some good fortune, and over the winter it seemed logical to assume that the rebranded outfit would maintain its momentum.
However, Formula 1 is a tough business. Testing in Bahrain had indicated that the green car was lacking some performance, and that was highlighted in the race when Lance Stroll logged the team’s best finish with 10th. The Canadian then took eighth in a high-attrition race at Imola.
At the time of writing – four races into the 2021 season – that was the best result logged by the team. Stroll’s new partner, Sebastian Vettel, had not bettered 13th place in his first four starts.
In F1 there’s nowhere to hide, as Ferrari demonstrated when it slumped to sixth place last year. Aston Martin’s early struggles are further proof of just how hard it is to put
