Brendan Lines   April 2, 2020

Aston Martin will return to Formula 1 in 2021 as a works team after a $1.9bn buy-in led by Racing Point team-owner Canadian Lawrence Stroll, the transition comes despite warnings from Aston Martin that it could run out of cash over the next 12 months and ends Aston Martin’s title sponsorship of Red Bull.

Image: The Drive

The $1.9bn cash injection approved by Aston Martin Lagonda shareholders is propped-up by $529m injected from the Yew Tree Consortium – a group of investors lead by Stroll, who will become the Executive Chairman of Aston Martin on April 20th.

As business’ world-wide struggle through with the COVID-19 pandemic, Aston Martin is not immune to the financial impact, signalling that due to ‘unquantifiable uncertainty’ the company does not have enough working capital.

Stroll said to motorsport.com the investment gives ‘necessary stability’ to the long-term future of Aston Martin.

The deal, which has been in the works since February is now finalised after many sleepless nights for the Canadian. — ending the British manufacturer’s 61-year absence from the F1 grid.

“The process of investing in this wonderful car brand has required all of my attention and energy for a number of months. There were certainly some sleepless nights. At the same time, it has been one of the most exciting deals in which I’ve ever been involved. Cars are my passion, a huge part of my life, and Aston Martin has always had a special place in my heart. To stand here today and announce that the agreement is finalised is a huge privilege and one of the proudest moments of my career. With all the paperwork completed, I can focus my attention on implementing the strategy to make this fantastic brand even more successful in the years ahead,” Stroll said.

Racing Point team-owner Lawrence Stroll – Image: BWT Racing Point F1 Team

The deal also finalises the separation of Aston Martin from its title sponsorship deal with Red Bull, which Red Bull said would end back in January. That sponsorship is reportedly to be $10m a year, with the inclusion of Aston Martin engineers embedded into Red Bull’s Milton Keynes base for added technical support.

As Aston Martin pivots away from its Red Bull alliance involving Honda, it course corrects the brand’s alignment with Daimler, who brought a five per cent stake in Aston Martin in 2013 and became its supplier of Mercedes AMG engines.

It’s no coincidence then Racing Point’s current Mercedes power-units will be in the back of its Aston Martin’s next year.

The re-branded BWT Racing Point F1 Team will remain at its current Silverstone factory in its new guise as Aston Martin Stroll says.

“The group of men and women at Silverstone are true racers and their determination and spirit is one of the main reasons I invested in the Formula 1 team. After 30 years, they deserve this opportunity to represent this legendary brand. We are continuing to invest in the team to give everybody the resources required and we will see the benefit of those efforts this year as Racing Point. With the Aston name comes more pressure and expectation. We will need to be competitive from the outset. But I have no doubt the team at Silverstone will rise to the challenge and do the Aston Martin name proud,” he said.

The ‘fluid’ situation of the pandemic has seen Formula 1 make drastic changes in recent months, one being the delay of new regulations until 2022, but the $US179m cost-cap will remain in place for 2021.

This could play into the hands of the newly flush Aston Martin outfit, as the cost-cap will limit the massive amounts of money Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull would have spent this year on their 2021 cars, before the regulation came into place.

Stroll says he is very frustrated not competing while the Formula 1 season is on hiatus, his team will continue supporting the ‘Project Pitlane’ collective of Formula 1 teams accelerating the manufacture of ventilators for the medical industry to cope with the current pandemic.