Aston Martin F1 team confirms 2022 driver line-up

File picture: Mazen Mahdi / AFP.

File picture: Mazen Mahdi / AFP.

Published Sep 16, 2021

Share

LONDON - Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel and Canadian Lance Stroll, son of the owner, will race for Aston Martin next season in an unchanged driver line-up, the Formula One team said on Thursday.

Vettel, who won his titles with Red Bull between 2010-13, joined at the end of last year from Ferrari. Executive chairman Lawrence Stroll had assured reporters this week that the German was set to stay after media speculation he might not.

Stroll senior said also that he saw Lance, 22, as a potential champion.

The Mercedes-powered team are building a new factory at Silverstone and hiring staff with the aim of positioning themselves as title contenders within three to five years.

Stroll will be starting his sixth season in Formula One next year after making his debut with former champions Williams in 2017.

Lawrence Stroll said the line-up blended youth and experience while team principal Otmar Szafnauer hailed Lance as "one of the most gifted drivers in modern Formula One" and Vettel as "a massive asset".

"Next year we expect both of them to race well in what will be a very different formula from the current one," added Szafnauer.

Formula One faces a major shake-up in 2022, with new aerodynamic rules aimed at making racing more competitive.

Aston Martin, the renamed Racing Point team that was previously Force India and started out as Jordan in 1991, are currently seventh of 10 in the constructors' standings.

They finished fourth last year, despite being docked 15 points that would have put them ahead of McLaren, but have been less competitive this year due to regulation changes over the winter.

Vettel, disqualified from second place in Hungary in August for not having enough fuel left in his car, has scored 35 points from 14 races and Stroll 24 although the Canadian has had more top 10 finishes.

"I am really looking forward to racing the new generation of Formula One cars. Their look is very different and the new technical regulations should give us cars that can race much more closely than recently," said Vettel.

Reuters

Related Topics: