OUTSTANDING LEADER
Lawrence Stroll
The Aston Martin boss is steering the brand back towards profitability – and this, he tells STEVE CROPLEY, is only the beginning
PHOTOGRAPHY JACK HARRISON
“Stroll never expected to own an F1 team, let alone a great heritage car brand”
Even before you meet Lawrence Stroll, there’s a foolproof way of forming a strong impression of his success and prowess at leadership. Just take a walk along the wide central corridor of his brand-new, £200 million Formula 1 team headquarters, built on the site of the old Jordan and Force India factories at Silverstone. It will teach you much of what you need to know in a short time – especially if your guide, like ours, is an Aston Martin insider who has worked in other F1 teams and knows the differences.
Aston Martin Aramco F1 is now “by a mile” the best-equipped team in the sport, your guide will tell you with pride, and the winning ambition of its Big Boss and his near 1000 employees fully matches the fabulous facilities. This place is filled with the anticipation of success, part of which comes from the fact that Stroll is the only remaining “old-style” F1 team owner, involved every day in leading a winning business. The Frank Williams and Ron Dennis characters are gone: apart from Stroll, today’s F1 team owners are OEMs and investment funds.
Building this F1 team would have been a mammoth achievement if Stroll and Aston Martin had taken 20 years to create it, but the opportunity arrived “very unexpected and unplanned” about six years ago, says Stroll, when we settle in his corner office, sumptuous but simple, to hear the story.