Driver Profiles: Vettel and Stroll (Aston Martin Cognizant)

Aston Martin first started on the grid back in the 1959 season. Sadly, the British car brand had a disappointing few seasons, so decided not to return to the sport for the 1961 season. There were rumours of a return for many years, but only a sponsorship of Red Bull between 2018-2020 came to fruition. The brand returned to the grid this year as Aston Martin Cognizant returned to the grid this year after a Racing Point rebrand saw Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stoll buy shares in the Aston Martin team. The drivers for their first season back in the sport are Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll.

Sebastian Vettel #4

Sebastian Vettel is a 33-year-old German driver who is a 4-time world champion, with over 53 race wins to his name. The driver began karting at the age of 3 and competed in a variety of Karting Championships, Formula 3 and Formula BMW. The driver then tested for Williams, before testing for BMW Sauber in 2006, becoming the team's reserve driver. At the time he was the youngest driver to participate in an F1 weekend having competed in FP2 and then driving in the 2007 US GP. Vettel moved to Toro Rosso in 2007. In the 2009 season, Vettel replaced David Coulthard at Red Bull, securing 2nd place in the World Championship standings. In the 2010 season, he secured his first World Championship and the team’s first Constructors Championship. He successfully defended his title for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 season. In 2015, the German driver made a move to Ferrari where he stayed until the end of 2020, where he was replaced by Carlos Sainz, so made the move to Aston Martin. The driver is known to be racing royalty and has been inducted into the F1 Hall of Fame.

Lance Stroll #18

Lance Stroll is a 22-year old Canadian driver and son of the team’s Chairman Lawrence Stroll. He started karting aged 10 and then went on to race in F4 and F3, winning the 2016 F3 Championship, beating Giovinazzi, Leclerc, Russel and Albon. In the same year, he came 5th in the 24 Hours of Daytona race and left the Ferrari Driver Academy to test for Williams. Stroll was confirmed as a driver for Williams for the 2017 season, becoming the first Canadian driver since 1997, and gained his first podium finish, making him the youngest driver to do so in their rookie season. He also drove from the team in 2018, before moving to Racing Point for the 2019 and 2020 season. Here he finished on the podium twice before staying with the team for the 2021 season as they rebranded as Aston Martin.

Other Drivers

The team's reserve driver is Nico Hulkenburg. You can read more about him here!