“We will do our best to win the world title next year” – Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has expressed optimism of challenging for the F1 world title next season.
Aston Martin have entered Formula 1 this season with high ambitions of winning the elusive constructors’ title. It has been testing so far, as they fight out in the midfield with teams like Alpine and AlphaTauri.
But team principal Otmar Szafnauer is optimistic of their challenge next season, with new regulations coming in force. At the same time, he does admit it won’t be easy, as it generally takes a few seasons before a team can mount a serious challenge.
“Well, we are working hard on next year and we will do our best to win the world title next year. But if you look historically, it does take time to put the infrastructure in place, the people in place to be able to challenge for a world championship.
“If I remember right, even Mercedes, who bought Brawn, who were world champions, it took them another four years to win. So it’s just what it takes when you have the goal, the ambition, the objectives and the funding to put the infrastructure in place as well as the correct people and then challenge for the world championship.”
Coming back stronger for the #HungarianGP. 👊
Read what else #SV5 had to say in our latest #F1 preview, presented by @Cognizant.
— Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) July 27, 2021
Aston Martin hiring to right-size
To add fuel to their huge ambitions, Aston Martin recently hired Dan Fallows from Red Bull and Luca Furbatto from Alfa Romeo. And Szafnauer has confirmed many more are in line before they plug all the holes when it comes to manpower.
“At 550 employees it’s a sprinkling of everywhere that we have to hire in. We have to hire like-minded individuals, quite a few of them, probably another 200 until we are right-sized.
“But it’s in all areas – in areas of performance, manufacturing, in the operations areas, to make sure we are efficient, and now with the financial regulations, even in areas where we can understand and plan for the financial regulations a bit better.”
