What is now called the SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team was known as Force India last year. Based in Silverstone and powered by Mercedes, the outfit finished 2019 seventh in the constructors’ championship ahead of Alfa Romeo, Haas, and the increasingly struggling Williams.
The backing of Lawrence Stroll, billionaire extraordinaire and the father of Racing Point driver Lance Stroll, has helped the team get out of the financial slump from the Vijay Mallya era. The Canadian businessman, however, is understood to have set its sights on a new acquisition.
“Billionaire poised to launch a bid for a major stake in Aston Martin,” is how Autocar.co.uk reports the unconfirmed deal. The plan is to buy the British automaker while the stock value is still low, and as expected, neither Lawrence nor Andy Palmer commented on the subject.
The Adeem/Primewagon group from Kuwait is the majority stakeholder right now, the Strategic European Investment Group holds a third of the company, and Daimler AG owns four percent. The reason neither party is willing to confirm the report is that Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings is a listed company, and as such, it’s not allowed to make an announcement this big without a takeover bid and a contract that would seal the deal.
AML stock value rose somewhat after Autocar and RaceFans.net published their stories, and the latter also refers to Racing Point becoming Aston Martin if the deal goes through. Former head honcho David Richards wanted Aston Martin back in Formula 1 in 2010, but his wish never materialized. The company had raced in the king of motorsports in 1959 and 1960 with the DBR4 but didn't score a single point with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori.
The biggest problem of adding the Aston Martin name to the Racing Point team would be Red Bull, whose title sponsor is the Gaydon-based automaker while the engines come from Honda. Red Bull is also helping Aston Martin with the Valkyrie hypercar and two other projects, namely the Valhalla and mid-engined Vanquish.
“Billionaire poised to launch a bid for a major stake in Aston Martin,” is how Autocar.co.uk reports the unconfirmed deal. The plan is to buy the British automaker while the stock value is still low, and as expected, neither Lawrence nor Andy Palmer commented on the subject.
The Adeem/Primewagon group from Kuwait is the majority stakeholder right now, the Strategic European Investment Group holds a third of the company, and Daimler AG owns four percent. The reason neither party is willing to confirm the report is that Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings is a listed company, and as such, it’s not allowed to make an announcement this big without a takeover bid and a contract that would seal the deal.
AML stock value rose somewhat after Autocar and RaceFans.net published their stories, and the latter also refers to Racing Point becoming Aston Martin if the deal goes through. Former head honcho David Richards wanted Aston Martin back in Formula 1 in 2010, but his wish never materialized. The company had raced in the king of motorsports in 1959 and 1960 with the DBR4 but didn't score a single point with Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori.
The biggest problem of adding the Aston Martin name to the Racing Point team would be Red Bull, whose title sponsor is the Gaydon-based automaker while the engines come from Honda. Red Bull is also helping Aston Martin with the Valkyrie hypercar and two other projects, namely the Valhalla and mid-engined Vanquish.