Ex-Aston Martin chief warns Lawrence Stroll 'wanted success too quickly' in F1

Former Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has blamed Lawrence Stroll's eagerness for success for the 'mess' that the team currently find themselves in.

Stroll took over the Silverstone-based outfit back in 2018, overseeing their rebrand to Racing Point, before they then became Aston Martin ahead of the 2021 championship.

Szafnauer was the team principal of the squad for that first season as Aston Martin, but now those duties fall on design legend Adrian Newey as the outfit attempt to become a championship-contending team in the future.

But, in 2026, Aston Martin have arguably hit their lowest point since Stroll took over.

Despite having Newey, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, and a new power unit partnership with Honda, Aston Martin have struggled for reliability and performance, only picking up one point from the opening 11 grand prix weekends.

They are currently sat way down in 10th in the constructors' championship and, even with 16 upgrades being brought to the team's AMR26 in Hungary, Stroll's son Lance Stroll and Alonso could only finish 13th and 14th respectively in the race.

Nonetheless, it's a start, and there are plenty more upgrades to come as they try to get closer to their midfield rivals in the remainder of 2026, before looking to challenge for titles in the coming seasons.

READ MORE: Aston Martin F1 time boost from new Honda upgrade revealed

Do Aston Martin need more stability?

Aston Martin have had a high turnover of staff in recent years, particularly when it comes to team principals.

Szafnauer ran the team until 2022, before Mike Krack took over. Ahead of 2025, it was announced that Krack would become chief trackside engineer, and Andy Cowell took over the team principal duties.

However, in November last year, it was announced that Cowell would no longer be team principal, handing the job to Newey, who was already undertaking his managing technical partner duties.

Szafnauer has now stated that he believes this proves Stroll has been trying to move too quickly to become a championship-contending outfit.

"Lawrence has owned the team for eight years now, I think you've got to go back five years," Szafnauer said on the High Performance podcast when asked when the Aston Martin 'mess' began.

"And for me, the mess comes from wanting success too quickly in Formula 1. And wanting success too quickly and not being patient means you get personnel turnover too quickly.

"The most successful teams are the stable ones. That's what Toto and Mercedes have now, stability of personnel, that's what Red Bull had when they were winning, and Ferrari was the same under Ross (Brawn) and Jean (Todt) and Michael (Schumacher)."

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