The rise of Aston Martin in F1

Gabriele Hartshorne-Mehl, a Finance student at McGill University, contributed to this story.

Aston Martin Aramco Formula One is the fastest growing team on the grid.

The team has seen significant improvements in the standings since 2020, finishing fifth in 2023. Off the track, his refreshing understanding of strategy and commitment to long-term brand motivation will soon propel Aston Martin into a worthy contender against Red Bull and Ferrari . .

“Our goal would be to keep moving forward. We hope to be fourth this year, third next year, and then in 2026, with the new regulations and our fairway in line, to compete for the world championship,” says Jefferson Slack, managing director of business and markets in Aston. Martin Aramco Formula One.

I had a chance to sit down with him for my weekly CEO Series radio show, heard across Canada on Bell Media on Saturdays and Sundays, which comes out as a podcast on Mondays.

With last week’s announcement of Fernando Alonso’s contract extension until 2026, one Alonso described him as “a life project,” it is clear that the two-time world champion also believes the best is yet to come for Aston Martin.

When Slack joined Lawrence Stroll’s Montreal Formula One Team in 2020, they established a vision for the team’s future. “We wanted to be the most inclusive brand in the world,” he says.

According to Slack, Stroll’s skills involved understanding and developing the iconic and iconic Aston Martin, growing the team to the same core, and then identifying strategies to grow the fan base and their new identity to become a household name in F1. With extensive experience in sports marketing and management outside of F1, Slack was well equipped to help rebuild Stroll’s team.

A graduate of Dartmouth University and Johns Hopkins, after school Slack joined a sports marketing company, ProServ, where he worked with Michael Jordan, an agency client. There, he learned the best practices of the NBA, which Slack claims is the best sports organization in the world. He started this practice as a new strategy for the growth of European football when he later moved abroad to work for the Inter Milan club in Italy, then Wasserman Media and IMG in London.

“I have been very lucky in my work, I have had a very good experience. I think this has been my favorite so far,” Slack says referring to his current role at Aston Martin Aramco Formula One. He spent a lot of time learning about the brand, what it meant to consumers, and how they should implement it in their new project.

Aston Martin focuses on the market sector of luxury, exclusivity and performance. It is best known for its relationship with 007 which has lasted for a period of 60 years– Aston Martin cars have played a major role in 13 films from the James Bond series.

Aston Martin’s new strategy involves combining this luxurious image with high performance—essentially, using the F1 team as a vehicle to develop and produce high performance and performance in their overall production of cars.

Slack believes that the F1 team can also make Aston Martin more accessible to everyone: “Most people will never buy an Aston Martin in their life… We wanted to create furniture where even if it was just watching the race on TV or attending the race or buying a hat, they felt part of the team this.”

F1 is a more closed world than other sports industries. By definition, the small number of teams and high entry costs mean that many people have been in the game for a long time. Everyone competes during each race, creating a competitive structure unlike that of many other professional sports, whose teams typically compete twice a season. There is a unique F1 bubble because of these conditions, Slack explains.

Although it hasn’t run as long as some of its competitors, Aston Martin’s limited experience can be an advantage. Coming from outside F1 to the national grid allowed for protection against groupthink from inside the F1 bubble.

One of the novel goals that Slack came up with to revamp the team was to be more progressive on the grid. “That was one of my concerns when I took the job. It was very European, the elderly population, generally a male sport. Now it has changed a lot,” he says.

Diversity is a core part of Aston Martin, built into their leasing practices and consulting structures. Slack believes that people with different experiences and backgrounds create different ideas in discussions, which in turn leads to better results.

Additionally, these people help the team understand how to reach market sectors they did not know how to reach before. “It’s not just the right thing to do. It’s also good for business, and it makes us better,” Slack says.

Key to Stroll’s vision for the team has been growing the fan base. Slack feels very strongly that in order to achieve this growth, they must focus on fans. “Because we had a small fan base, sometimes we had to work hard, which I think is a good thing,” he says.

Social media has been one of Aston Martin’s strongest areas of growth. When Slack arrived, no one was making team videos. The team now has two videographers at every race, providing engaging content for fans of all ages.

“Social media has given us the ability to speak directly to people, especially young people…we had a strategy and a vision,” Slack says. “You put those things together without the legacy of things being done a certain way, in a space that’s changing so quickly. It’s something we’re proud of, that we can be deeply involved with our fans and make them feel that we care about them.”

What’s next for the team?

Slack says they are always going through a learning process. Last year, they built a strong car during the winter, but didn’t develop it as well throughout the season. They are still adapting some of the processes that their competitors have been working on for over 20 years. Given the number of constraints such as prospective employee contracts, the transition usually takes place over the course of several seasons.

However, the strategic developments taking place at Aston Martin both on and off the track certainly brighten the future of the team. By the time of the engine regulatory change requiring sustainable fuel in 2026, Aston Martin will be running the Honda engine that Red Bull uses today with a high-efficiency performance-related fuel developed by the team’s main sponsor. The new campus construction is complete, and their wind tunnels are coming this year.

Combining this enhanced infrastructure and growing fan base with some of the best drivers on the grid in Lance Stroll and Alonso, Aston Martin is on course to become a consistent race leader. The ultimate secret agent’s ultimate car will easily overtake its competitors, even without its fuel jets and tire shredders.

Watch out for F1! Bond, James Bond, has joined the race.