Aston Martin showcase £200m "game changer" that can turn tide in F1 title fight

Ian Parkes
Tuesday 29 November 2022 10:00

Mike Krack believes Aston Martin will soon possess the best facilities in F1 that will ultimately prove "a game changer" in its bid to swiftly become champions.

The team recently opened its doors to a select group of F1 media - including GPFans - on its new factory that is due to officially be operational by late spring next year.

The four-acre site, across the road from its current aging facilities at Silverstone, will also possess a state-of-the-art wind tunnel that will be online by mid-2024, with the entire complex completed late that year.

The project is a £200million investment being made by owner Lawrence Stroll as per his ambitious plans to turn Aston Martin into a race- and hoped-for title-winning team by the end of 2025.

Although the main factory is still in the building process, team principal Krack has no doubt it will be the best facility in F1, allowing it a way of working it has previously not enjoyed as every facet required to run a team will finally all be under one roof.

"The fact we will be able to talk to people without having to arrange meetings, it will facilitate the dialogue massively," said Krack.

"With the remote locations we currently have, you either need to pick up the phone or organise something.

"This is sometimes a natural barrier to more exchange, and the other thing is also logistics.

"We should not forget that to bring stuff from A to B, it will be massively different, massively easier.

"So from that point of view, I fully agree on using the name 'game changer' for team dynamics and logistics."

Aston Martin communication to become easier

The first-floor office space will be predominantly open-plan, with the north face of the factory affording wide-sweeping views of the Northamptonshire countryside.

Highlighting how the dynamic will alter for the team, technical director Dan Fallows added: "It will change it significantly.

"[At present] We have this small factory and these modular buildings where we have some people who are not necessarily designing parts of the car at the moment but they are very connected to our design process.

"Having them not in the same room makes it slightly more difficult to communicate with them.

"I've been in a big open-plan office before with the ability to be able to walk around and talk to people very easily, and it makes a huge difference in terms of the interactions.

"Particularly the serendipitous interactions where you can have a chat with somebody about one thing and go on to talk about a lot of other things.

"They often end up being the most creative conversations, and that's what we are trying to build."