Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition 2022.

Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition 2022.

Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition 2022.

Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition 2022. The new Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition: in the footsteps of the safety car.
After 60 years, Aston Martin has officially returned to Formula 1. This is the name of the former Racing Point team this season, as its owner Lawrence Stroll has recently become a shareholder in the British automaker.

In addition, the Aston Martin Vantage supercars are now safety cars for Formula 1 races. And especially for this, the machines were modernized. And so that the developments are not in vain, on their basis, a commercial special series Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition was created.

The main goal of the engineers was to reduce the lap time, therefore, not only the engine was modified, but also the chassis and aerodynamics. Other shock absorbers are installed in the suspension, and on the rear axle there are also stiffer springs.

The steering gear has been improved (2.4 turns from lock to lock), the front subframe has been reinforced. Instead of 20-inch wheels, 21-inch wheels with Pirelli P Zero tires are installed.

The AMG V8 4.0 biturbo engine is boosted modestly: the power has been increased from 510 to 535 hp, and the torque has not changed at all (685 Nm).

But the eight-speed «automatic» ZF recalibrated and now changes gears faster than the base model. Finally, an additional front splitter, a large rear wing and underbody linings allowed for increased downforce: at maximum speed, the downforce increased by 200 kg.

In addition, the F1 Edition has a further version of the radiator grille with an extended lower section.

Alas, the company does not give lap times on any track, but the standard dynamic characteristics of the coupe have not changed.

The Vantage F1 Edition can accelerate to 100 km / h in 3.6 seconds and reach a maximum of 314 km / h. In addition, the special version can be ordered with an open body, and in this case its dynamics is slightly different from the base roadster: acceleration to «hundreds» in 3.7 s (instead of 3.8 s), maximum speed — 305 km / h (instead of 306 km / h).

Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition 2022.

The start of sales of Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition cars is scheduled for May, prices in Germany — from 162 thousand euros.

Unusual: Formula 1 now has a green safety car. And anyone can buy a novelty!

Only 14.5 million rubles — and you can imagine how even Hamilton and Verstappen meekly remain behind.

Neither a century of history, nor the status of a special agent James Bond car, nor success in GT races guarantee the financial success of the company.

The Aston Martin brand was convinced of this from its own experience, which, despite all of the above, faced a crisis aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, part of the shares had to be sold to save the legendary automaker.

The stake was owned by the Yew Tree Overseas Limited consortium led by Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll.

Given that 20% of Aston Martin is owned by Daimler, ex-Mercedes-AMG CEO Tobias Moers has become the new head of Aston Martin, so the ties between the British and German automaker are even stronger.

So much so that Aston Martin not only returned to Formula 1 for the first time in more than 60 years with a factory team (the one that already belonged to Lawrence Stroll and spent the 2020 season with a “pink Mercedes”, which already hints at a lot), but also for the first time since 1996 stripped Mercedes-Benz of the status of the exclusive monopoly supplier of official Formula 1 cars!

Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition 2022.

If everything goes according to plan and 23 Grand Prix will be held in the 2021 season, then at 11 stages, starting with the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the constant driver of the safety car Bernd Maylinder and the driver of the medical car Alan van der Merwe will work on their usual 585-horsepower coupe and Mercedes-AMG GT R and 510-horsepower Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Estate, respectively.

But Maylander and van der Merve will have to start the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix on an unusual technique — a 535-horsepower Aston Martin Vantage coupe and a 550-horsepower Aston Martin DBX crossover.

While both Mercedes-AMGs are technically the same cars that can be bought at a dealership, in the case of Aston Martin this is only true for the DBX model.

The crossover was equipped with separate “bucket” seats (for the driver, FIA medical staff doctor Ian Roberts, the local doctor of the Grand Prix track and the driver — in case the latter needs evacuation from the scene of the incident), each of which is equipped with 6-point seat belts.

The trunk was supplemented with mounts for medical and rescue equipment, including a first aid kit, a defibrillator, a pair of fire extinguishers and a fire rescue kit.

As part of the racing «tuning», additional displays appeared in the cabin: for TV broadcasting of the race, for data on the state of the pilot who got into an accident (information comes in real time from sensors built into the rider’s gloves), for flag signaling, for displaying pictures from the rear camera species.

And that’s not counting the built-in radio communication and the control panel for LED flashing lights on the roof.

Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition 2022.

It seems that there are enough alterations, but still less than the Vantage coupe, which had to be modified much more seriously than the crossover to work at the head of the Formula 1 peloton.

Although it would seem that it is the DBX that is less than a sports car adapted for service on the track, it turned out the opposite.

When it became clear that the Aston Martin model would not only have to drive on the race track, but also do it at a very high pace, the engineers of the

British brand had to tackle the fine-tuning of the engine, gearbox, suspension and aerodynamics of the car. All in order for the sports car to maintain the pace that the cars need.

The Mercedes-AMG 4.0-liter V8 turbo engine has been increased by 25 hp. — from the base 510 hp up to 535 hp, and the torque is «stretched» more over the rev range.

The 8-speed automatic has been re-tuned for faster up and down shifts. Additionally, the rear-wheel drive coupe was equipped with an electronically controlled differential lock.

Neither the acceleration time from standstill to 100 km / h (3.6 seconds) nor the maximum speed (314 km / h) changed, but this was not the goal: Möers set before his charges the task of improving the handling of the model and the lap time, so the engineers focused on suspension and steering.

The coupe received a stiffer front subframe, a re-tuned steering wheel that became sharper, the shock absorbers were changed in the suspension, and stiffer springs were installed on the rear axle.

For the first time, the Vantage was equipped with 21-inch (previously the maximum for the model was 20-inch) wheels with a special design Satin Black Diamond Turned, shod with Pirelli P Zero tires.

Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition 2022.

Interestingly, for the head of Aston Martin it was essential to keep the tires on the car that allow it to drive on public roads, so slicks exclusively for race tracks were not even considered by the creators of the pace car.

To make the coupe feel confident at high speed, the standard sports car was supplemented with a carbon-fiber aerodynamic body kit with a special weaving of carbon 2×2 Twill, the most noticeable components of which were a new radiator grill with horizontal slats, a developed front splitter, massive door sills and bottom, a wing on the trunk lid.

According to Aston Martin, these improvements allowed to increase the downforce by 200 kg when driving at top speed. A quartet of tailpipes instead of the standard two is unlikely to affect anything other than style, but the car is quite to the face.

Naturally, flashing beacons appeared with a rear-view camera built into their rack, and an additional rear-view mirror was installed in the cabin for Richard Darker, accompanying Bernd Maylander, on which the image from the camera is displayed.

Both crew members of the safety car sit in «buckets» with 6-point seat belts, and on the front panel there are mounts for two iPads — with broadcasting of the race and service information.

Naturally, there are radio communications, several cameras for live TV broadcasting and a control panel for «flashing lights», and for the sake of it the central console had to be rearranged — in the road Vantage it was occupied by the automatic control buttons, so for the pace car it was necessary to change the position of the keys.

And the exact same car, with the exception of the equipment described in the previous paragraph, can now be afforded by any fan of Aston Martin and / or Formula 1. The fact is that since the brand became the supplier of official cars for the World Cup, it was a sin not to monetize this achievement in the segment of road sports cars.

A special version of the F1 Edition, technically based on the Formula 1 safety car, but available not only as a coupe, but also as an open-top roadster, Aston Martin offers to everyone. The cost of the special version is from 162 thousand euros (approximately 14.5 million rubles).

You can choose cars in the corporate color Aston Martin Racing Green (which is also carried by the pace car and Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team cars), or you can choose the shades of Jet Black and Lunar White with contrasting stripes in Solid Matte Dark Gray.

There is only one trim option — Obsidian Black leather combined with Phantom Gray Alcantara, but contrasting inserts on the seats and upholstery stitching are available in Lime Green, Obsidian Black, Wolf Gray or Spicy Red.

And the improvements seem to be small, but the Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition is an excellent illustration of how you can and should make money on everything related to Formula 1.

Lawrence Stroll has already led the BWT Racing Point F1 Team to the first and last Grand Prix victory in its history, and now the Canadian billionaire has taken up, if not revive, then return to the profitability of the legendary brand.

And all means are good in this — both our own factory team, and the supply of cars for the official needs of the World Championship and, of course, building a strong at least associative connection between Aston Martin on Formula 1 tracks and on public roads.

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