'New factory will make Aston Martin F1 title contenders within 5 years'

It’s also a bold investment given that there’s a proposal that wind tunnels will be banned from F1 from 2030, obliging teams to rely on the ever-improving field of computational fluid dynamics. Stroll is willing to take the risk.

“No one knows what the future will be with wind tunnels past 2030 at this point, but we believe it’s a worthy investment that we’ll have seven or eight years to be able to use it before any decision is made.

“I personally don’t think wind tunnels will disappear. I don’t think it’ll be safe for F1 to all be designed by only CFD. I think rational minds have come to that. But if it’s seven years, at least we’ll have seven years.”

Once the team has moved into the new main building the current factory, which originally was going to switched to alternative uses, will be demolished. It will ne replaced with a multi-use facility, which Stroll describes as “a state-of-the-art wellness centre, cafeteria, simulator, and will house our heritage cars and be able to entertain guests. We’re also going to have a bit of an auditorium/convention centre in this building.”

Stroll makes it clear that when the three elements are completed the new facility, which will total 400,000 square feet, will be the best of any team on the current grid.

“It will be an inspiring and empowering place to work, design, manufacture and hopefully win.”

It’s a bold but perfectly valid claim. The bases of the teams we now know as Mercedes and Red Bull date back to their respective nineties roots as BAR and Stewart respectively, albeit with some expansion and updating along the way. Even the spectacular McLaren Technology Centre in Woking is nearly 20 years old.

“It will be the only one currently fit for purpose with the financial regulations taken into consideration,” says Stroll. “It will also be the first 5G factory, be completely sustainable, it will be a true smart factory in every sense of the word. This is really following suit in line with our aggressive and ambitious recruitment drive.

“Here we will be able to have the headcount that we so desperately want and need, again to fulfil my ambitions to fighting for World Championships.

“And it will be an inspiring and empowering place in which to work, design, manufacture and hopefully win.

“There’s been nothing like it ever before in automotive, whether F1 or any other [area], certainly not in racing. That shows my belief in the team. It confirms my ambitions. And it confirms my belief in F1, because this is really an investment as well in F1.”

You might think this is all sounding a bit like the MTC, which Ron Dennis moulded to reflect his personality – and which was famously soon outgrown by the racing team it houses. Stroll insists that the Aston base is being built for practicality, rather than vanity.

“This is the reverse of what Ron Dennis did with Norman Foster with the McLaren Technology Centre. This is a factory, a campus, again fit for purpose to match the DNA and the culture of ourselves, of our history, of our purpose. What it’s been built for is to be able to be efficient, to be streamlined, to again have everybody sitting side-by-side under one roof.

“And this is taking into consideration the new financial regulations, and also taking into consideration where we believe the sport will be going in the future.

“So we can build more bays if we want, we can shrink not by shrinking the size of the building, but moving people closer together. But this is a building that will truly represent our image, our culture and our DNA.”

He insists that it won’t be Aston in name only: “It’s instilling we are now Aston Martin, and will be forever. It is instilling the culture and the DNA from Aston Martin to this great historical past. Also architecturally speaking, it will be designed as an Aston Martin-inspired building. So the feeling, the colours, the smell, the lighting, the what have you will reflect our Aston Martin corporate identity.”

With fortuitous timing as noted Stroll and his management team have been able to target their plans around the budget cap levels mandated by the F1 financial regulations.

In other words they now know what a realistic headcount target is for the coming seasons, they know how those numbers will be spread around the various departments, and they were able to fine tune the design to suit. In contrast after expanding over the years Mercedes and Red Bull are furiously downscaling to meet the cap requirements.

“On the downside we’re a few years behind because of Covid to build this building,” says Stroll. “It was the intent to have this building in place today. But I truly do believe we’re in a better state than the very large teams that have to downsize, which is demotivational.

“You don’t know who’s the next one about to lose their job, etc, etc, where we’re looking to add hundreds of people to our head count. So yes, I think we’re in a sweet spot.”

The new building won’t just house F1 personnel – there will be folk involved in cutting edge projects like the Valkyrie who can benefit from rubbing shoulders with the racing team.

“We’re going to have various businesses in here,” says Stroll. “We’ll have the F1 team as we know it today, we’re also going to add an Aston Martin performance technology component to this business, we’re going to add an Aston Martin performance manufacturing component to this business, that we currently don’t have today.

“And of course, we’re going to have all the wind tunnel and the personnel to go with that that we don’t have today. Total headcount, I cannot tell you, because we have not finished our plans.

“This is a process that’s going to take two and in some cases three years after we replace the existing building. But just headcount of staff, I’d say comfortably, we’ll be able to fit a thousand.”

Even with a budget cap reining in the big spenders of F1, Stroll’s plans reflect a significant investment, one that proves that he means business.

“I think money always talks very loud, doesn’t it? It will continue to. We all know about the budget cap. We also are all very realistic of all the exclusions not included in the budget cap. For us this campus, this facility, was long overdue, again, Covid cost us two years, otherwise it would already be completed, or close to completion.

“But in order to compete to win, which is what I am here for, this tool is 100% needed. What you need to win is you need the right leadership and vision, which I believe I bring. You need the finances to be able to afford it. You need the best people in the industry. And you need to give them the best tools and processes.

“None of my predecessors have my history or track record or the success that I’ve had”

“Well, this is delivering the tools and the processes – and we already have a lot of great people – in order to recruit the ones we don’t have, and give them my guidance, our senior management team’s guidance and leadership, in order to fulfil all of our dreams.”

The Silverstone team has had a rocky history at times, but it has survived the Jordan, Midland, Spyker, Force India and Racing Point eras, with some loyal staff members staying for the whole ride. Other owners have come and gone, but Stroll insists that he is here for the long haul.

“Now, this is a long-term investment, and no offence to any of my predecessors, none of them have my history or track record or the success that I’ve had. I’m clearly passionate about this, this is a great business opportunity. I see F1 as a business, the value of each individual team significantly appreciating in the years to come.

“Not any different than any other sports assets. If you look at a soccer club, or football, whatever you call it, an NFL football team, 10 years ago an NFL football team was worth a billion dollars today, you can’t buy a franchise for less than $4-5bn.

“So this is a long-term plan. This is something I plan on being involved with. I’m still a young man, I believe I am at least, for many, many years to come. You don’t make this kind of investment and plan to retreat in any way, shape or form.”