Aston Martin pulled off the shock signing of the summer by luring Fernando Alonso from Alpine to join them. He will race alongside Lance Stroll, son of the team’s owner Lawrence.
The billionaire who bought the team four years ago is serious in his desire to transform the outfit into championship contenders. For further proof of that consider the brand new, state-of-the-art, “game-changing” factory and wind tunnel they began building last summer. RaceFans visited the site on Friday as the project nears completion.
Based opposite Silverstone circuit the ambitious, 40-acre project will also provide space for a simulator as well as housing the team’s manufacturing, marketing and design teams. Built at an estimated cost of up to £200 million, the site will consist of three buildings.
The area of the factory where the team’s future cars will be designed and built is due to come into operation next year. The main building is expected to be ready a little later than the original targeted date of late 2022. The third building, which will be used as staff offices including a gym and catering, is not due to be completed until the end of 2024.
The new wind tunnel will allow the team to conduct its aerodynamic testing in house. This will be a valuable boost for the outfit which currently uses Mercedes’ facilities up the road in Brackley. Aston Martin’s will be ready in August 2024, according to technical director Dan Fallows.
“We’re hoping that we’ll have at least some contribution to the AMR25,” he told selected media including RaceFans. “Depending on how the commissioning and things at the tunnel goes, that will probably be the first car that we’ll be able to have a significant impact with a new tunnel.”
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“In terms of the factory itself, obviously, that’s coming online next year in various stages,” Fallows adds. “So we’re hoping that the cars prior to that will obviously see the benefit of the new factory as well.”
After buying the team in 2018 when, under its former identity Force India, it plunged into serious financial problems, Stroll subsequently rebranded the outfit, first to Racing Point and then last year to Aston Martin. The return to a green livery echoed that of Jordan, the team’s original name when it entered F1 in 1991. It has passed through…
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