Aston Martin should be in a position to compete for Formula 1 victories by 2023, according to Racing Point boss Otmar Szafnauer, as the team prepares for its new era.
Racing Point will be branded as Aston Martin on a long-term basis from 2021 after team owner Lawrence Stroll invested in the manufacturer.
Racing Point currently competes in Formula 1’s midfield and under its Force India guise was an occasional podium finisher, scoring five top-three results with Sergio Perez.
The team’s most recent Formula 1 success came in 2003, when as Jordan it triumphed at the rain-soaked Brazilian Grand Prix; it also took three wins in the late 1990s.
Stroll is investing heavily in Racing Point ahead of its Aston Martin rebrand, with a new facility at Silverstone under construction, while both Perez and Lance Stroll are on long-term deals.
“It’s probably a three-year plan for us,” Szafnauer told the official Formula 1 website.
“The factory will take a couple of years, and hiring the right people takes a couple of years, and during that transition phase, you won’t be at a 100 per cent at where you want to be until you get there, and then you have got to work together.
“So it’s a three-year plan, but every year we should be getting better, we should never take a step backwards.
“Our goal is to break into the top three in that time and be competitive at that level and have a chance at winning races and be regular podium finishers.
“Even if we’re not top three, say the top three become top four and we’re part of that, or even top five and someone else joins us, but we’re all competing at that level where the top three currently are, that would be a success for us.”
Racing Point finished seventh in last year’s Constructors’ Championship.
