I will always regret the loss of the pink Racing Point cars sponsored by BWT in recent years, but if that great paint had to leave the sport, I can’t think of any more suitable car to replace it on the grid than the Aston Martin F1 Team AMR21. The blue-green tone of BRG with just a kiss of pink BWT is the most exquisite thing I have seen adorn the grill in my entire life. It’s so good that I really should be rooting for Aston Martin this year, despite my well-known feelings for Sebastian Vettel. Even despite the team’s stupid move to abandon Sergio Perez.
It has been more than sixty years since Aston Martin was in Formula One as a manufacturer. The team spent the off-season developing a new aerodynamic package to fit in the 2021 rulebook (and presumably abandoning Mercedes’ copied brake lines) and developing the car to work with Mercedes 2020 style rear suspension. Certain parts, such as the rear suspension, can be purchased wholesale from manufacturers without using the team’s update tokens, so that was the plan all along.
The Racing Point team had a great 2020 season, scoring enough points to finish third in the championship (were it not for the points lost due to the brake duct problem) and won the team’s first victory since entering the sport. There is potential for the renamed Mercedes-powered Aston Martin team to resume where Racing Point left off. Despite my rebuke, I am sure that Vettel still has some fight ahead of him for the 2021 season, and Lance Stroll is a competent competitor, despite the nepotism at stake here.
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Will the team win the championship? No. Are you going to win a race or two? If you’re lucky. Will it surpass Red Bull in the manufacturer’s classification? Probably not. McLaren? This will be closer, but I will say no. Will it beat all the teams on the grid in a beauty contest? You bet your sweet ass will. This is a beautiful machine.
Remember the most beautiful F1 painting in the last thirty years. Whatever it is, it is better.
