ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE F1 EDITION

04

THE AERO WORKS TOO, TURNING THE STANDARD CAR’S FRONT LIFT INTO DOWNFORCE

ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA is extremely keen for you to make a link between its classic British branding and the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula 1. This is no easy feat. For a start, the marque recently “returned” to the sport as a manufacturer in 2021, replacing the awful Racing Point name.

Returned is slightly sarcastic. There was an ill-fated Aston Martin Formula 1 operation in 1959 and 1960. And embarrassing because the sports car team won Le Mans in the same year as its grand prix debut. Aston wisely withdrew to concentrate on that instead.

For 2021, the team hired Sebastian Vettel fresh from a scrappy stint at Scuderia Ferrari. Also coincidental was the gradual replacement of AMG cars as Formula 1’s official safety and medical car vehicles with Aston Martin’s Vantage and DBX respectively. In 2022, the change is complete.

And as if to really hammer home the point, the day I picked up the Vantage F1 Edition was the same day the Aston Martin AMR22 made its global debut ahead of the Formula 1 season. It’s F1,