The Aston Martin AMR21 is a Formula One racing car designed and developed by the Aston Martin Formula One team, that competed in the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The car is an evolution of the Racing Point RP20, used by Aston Martin’s predecessor team Racing Point during the 2020 championship. This was the first car to be entered by the returning Aston Martin team. The car was driven by Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll. Vettel, who has made a habit of naming his cars since his days at Toro Rosso, named his car “Honey Ryder” in reference to Ursula Andress’ character in the 1962 James Bond movie Dr. No.
The Aston Martin Cognizant F1 team revealed the “AMR21” car at a virtual event that was broadcast from London. The AMR21 will compete in the 2021 Formula One World Championship, which gets underway on March 28 in Bahrain. Formula One is watched by millions of fans around the world and everyone from Ferrari to BMW to Mercedes has used the sport to promote the strength of their brand. Aston Martin has been struggling financially and its share price on the London Stock Exchange fell sharply in 2020. The company is hoping that Formula One will boost sales of Aston Martin road cars like the DB11, the Vanquish and the Vantage.
At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Stroll qualified in tenth place. Vettel initially qualified in eighteenth place but prior to the race, he received a five-place grid penalty for failing to respect double yellow flags during qualifying, dropping him to last. Stroll went on to finish tenth place, while Vettel managed to gain six positions from his starting position to fourteenth place before receiving a 10-second penalty due to a collision with Ocon on lap 45, he eventually finished in fifteenth place. At the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Stroll qualified in tenth place with Vettel in thirteenth place. Despite qualifying in thirteenth place, Vettel started from the pit lane due to brake issues.
