I will always lament the loss of the BWT-sponsored pink Racing Point cars of the last few years, but if that excellent livery had to leave the sport, I can think of no car more fitting to replace it on the grid than the Aston Martin F1 Team AMR21. The blue-green take on BRG with just a kiss of BWT pink is the most exquisite thing I’ve seen grace the grid in my entire lifetime. It’s so good that I actually might have to cheer for Aston Martin this year, despite my well-known feelings about Sebastian Vettel. Even despite the team’s boneheaded move to ditch Sergio Perez.
It’s been over sixty years since Aston Martin was last in Formula One as a constructor. The team spent the off-season developing a new aero package to fit the 2021 rulebook (and presumably ditch the contentious Mercedes-copied brake ducts) and developing the car to work with Mercedes’ 2020-style rear suspension setup. Certain parts, like the rear suspension, can be taken wholesale from supplying manufacturers without using the team’s update tokens, so that was the plan all along.
The Racing Point team had a banner 2020 season, scoring enough points to finish third in the championship (were it not for the points stripped away due to the brake duct kerfuffle) and scored the team’s first win since it joined the sport. There’s potential for the Mercedes-powered renamed Aston Martin team to pick up where Racing Point left off. Despite my chiding, I’m sure Vettel has some fight left in him for the 2021 season, and Lance Stroll is a competent competitor, in spite of the nepotism at play here.
Will the team win the championship? No. Will it win a race or two? If it’s lucky. Will it outscore Red Bull in the manufacturer’s standings? Probably not. McLaren? That’ll be closer, but I’m going to say no. Will it beat every team on the grid in a beauty competition? You bet your sweet ass it will. This is a beautiful machine.
Think back to the best looking F1 livery of the last thirty years. Whatever it is, this is better.
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