Aston Martin has confirmed it will retain Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll for the 2022 Formula One season.
Aston Martin signed four-time world champion Vettel this season to mark the start of its return to F1. Vettel and Stroll were widely expected to remains as teammates for another season.
Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll, the father of Lance, has made the ambitious pledge of turning the team into a championship contender in the coming years. Stroll hopes to use next year’s sweeping aerodynamic rule change, which F1 believes will shake up the current pecking order, will help propel his team into contention.
Keeping Vettel, a four-time world champion, on board matches that ambition, as the German is the second most accomplished driver on the grid behind Lewis Hamilton.
“I am really looking forward to racing the new generation of Formula One cars,” Vettel said.
“Their look is very different and the new technical regulations should give us cars that can race much more closely than recently. More exciting racing will be great for the drivers as well as for the fans. The changes are so big that every team will be starting from a new beginning, so it will be a great opportunity for us at Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team.
“I believe in the strength of our new growing team, so I am already looking forward to 2022.”
This week the team broke ground on a brand new headquarters in Silverstone, a short drive from the circuit which hosts the British Grand Prix.
Under its former guise, Racing Point, the Silverstone team won its first ever race last year at the Sakhir Grand Prix. Vettel helped Aston Martin score its first F1 podium at this year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Despite Stroll’s lofty plans for the team, Aston Martin is currently seventh in the constructors’ championship.