Why Stroll believes that his master plan with Aston Martin is feasible

If you travel the streets of ST.James's, the steps of the greats and the good, of the influential and of those who do business, of those who move the threads of a London corner that have welcomed the elite since the time of the restoration are perceived.In the center, St James's Square, who for at least two centuries was one of the most elegant directions in London until the arrival of the clubs of Knights and --Usurrando- of commercial establishments made the aristocracy go to the nearby Belgravia.

The brass plates located next to the robust doors of these imposing high roof buildings now allude to the trade of their current occupants.They are no longer houses, because 21st century trade does not need rest.Inside are companies that carry opaque and bland titles, and that specialize in aspects such as the arbitration of mergers and the variable income of special situations, as well as in promotional fundamental approaches for the construction of portfolios.Through these lobs richness flows to an order of decimals through which a simple millionaire is a real beggar compared.

The northern side of the square houses the greatest buildings, erected in the largest plots.The number 5, the former Wentworth House, built in the 18th century in classic Paladian style by Matthew Brettingham el Viejo, is one of them.Lawrence Stroll beat a new rental record in London when he established his offices here in 2017.

A blue plate in the adjoining building indicates number four as ancient residence of Nancy Astor, the first deputy woman;Now it is the headquarters of the Naval and Military Club, aka "The In and Out", whose president was the late Prince Felipe, and who does not publish his partnership quotas.Beyond the eastern row, the advertising fences cover the demolished remains of Norfolk House, where General Dwight D Eisenhower drew the plans for the invasion of the day D.An office building of 72 million pounds has been commissioned here by an "unleasized customer".Historical wealth, power and ambition rumble and sizzle in this area as a high voltage circuit.

GP Racing magazine, which is part of Motorsport Network, opens the door of number five and enters a discreet opulence space: a waiting room with two leather armchairs and a wide stone staircase that leads to the offices of the man itself.Lawrence Stroll, dressed informally, receives us behind a wide desk illuminated by a couple of high and wide windows that offer a panorama of the square.

Although we are talking to a man with many business interests, only one of them is reflected in the decoration: a photograph of an action in Aston Martin Racing boxes on the wall behind the desk, and trophies on the chimney.The cars are designed and build 70 miles from here, in a considerably less great environment, but that is about to change and it is from here where the threads move.

In mid-September, Stroll, together with the president of JCB, Lord Bamford-one of the co-investors that Stroll put on the table to rescue Aston Martin 18 months ago-put the first stone of the new factory of the team of the team of the team of the team ofFormula 1 of the brand, near Silverstone, which is expected to cost between 150 and 200 million pounds (between 200 and 270 million dollars).But remember that we are in St James's, where the movement of millions are nothing more than small sums of money.The new installation, which the boss prefers to call campus instead of factory, will be the center of what Stroll aims.

"Unfortunately, two years have been delayed with respect to the calendar originally planned due to COVID," says Stroll."I hoped today we were there".

"The most essential tool for any Formula 1 equipment is to have the last and most modern campus, it is a campus, not a factory.We will have three buildings with facilities that include a restaurant, a gym and a wind tunnel.I think this differentiates us from our competitors ".

"It is a huge investment.To win in Formula 1, you have to have appropriate leadership and vision and, as in any business, you have to have adequate finances.And honestly, with the new financial regulations, the playing field really level.We will no longer be overcome by our competitors: we will have the same budgets as the two best teams ".

There lies the difference between Lawrence Stroll and others that have acquired assets in difficulties in Formula 1 and in the world of the automobile in general in recent years.Stroll has access to capital and is not afraid to spend it, as long as the risks are properly understood and mitigated.This contrasts strongly with many aspiring equipment owners who have sought ways to make a cheap offer, but using leverage funds against the future profits of that team: in effect, betting with the money of others.

When Stroll companies require others to enter and share the risk, he has a significant earning history for himself and has co-investors, which is why many of them happily return to the water well.Aston Martin's coinversor, Silas Chou, for example, obtained a splendid profitability of his investment in relaunching and the IPO of the fashion brand Michael Kors, orchestrated by Stroll.

Help that in the Post-Bernie Era Ecclestone, the head of the F1 commercial rights adopts a more collegiate and collaborative approach to grow the business.The budget limit - acted despite the teeth of the great speakers of the F1 - and the "input ticket" of 200 million dollars enshrined in the last agreement of the Concord have put competitors in a better financial position.

Although the limit is not going to transform the competitive panorama immediately, it means that the F1 is no longer a bottomless well in which leaders throw money indiscriminately.Together with the new entrance barrier that consecrates each team with a franchise value, it makes all competitors much more invertible.When Stroll rescued the administration to what was then known as Force India in 2018, this was not yet a fact, but it was certainly part of the plan of the new F1 owners.

"I had several meetings with Chase (Carey, CEO of F1) at that time," says Stroll."And that was a very, very important part of my decision process to buy the company or not.Had a great influence on my decision.If there had been no expense limits, I would not have been able to compete ".

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"People - human capital - are a very important factor.I would never have bought a team that groped at the ninth or tenth position.What impressed me, and the reason for the acquisition, was that it was a team that worked with a budget of 90 million pounds and only 400 employees (at that time, Mercedes spent 332 million pounds a year, and was 900employees only in Brackley), but two years in a row he was fourth in the championship, and it would have been three years without the administration.All this with a third of the budget and less than half of the workforce of the competitors that were above ".

"There was already a nucleus of 400 very passionate people, that famous expression, which sticks above their weight.They did more than other teams, so it was an incredible opportunity to take advantage of an already solid base.We did not start from zero ".

"When the company (Force India) entered into a bankruptcy proceedings, there was no plan at that time, apart from trying to focus on getting the asset.After getting the asset, yes, I had a very clear vision that this is an automotive company.And I was sleepy that, being based on Silverstone for almost three decades, it has to be a British brand.And for me there is only a British brand that justifies being on the F1 pedestal.And that was Aston Martin.It was a kind of dream come true ".

The delay motivated by the COVID in the construction of the new "campus" has played in favor of Stroll, since the plans have evolved and accommodated new developments, the main of which has been a change of plans in relation to the wind tunnel.At first, it was not planned, since the team believed that it could continue to develop by renting the Mercedes tunnel.

A disappointing - disappointing 2021 campaign, that is, based on the performance of the team last season, as well as its expectations for this- It is understood that it is the main reason for the radical change.After closing the concept of aerodynamics of Mercedes, Aston Martin was equally affected by the changes in the regulation during the recess and has suffered to be competitive.

During a press conference by Zoom the week before the GP Racing Meet"If you really want to be world champion, it's a tool you're going to need".In doing so, Stroll is betting on the prohibition of wind tunnels, which is currently raised for 2030.

"That change of opinion cost a little money," Stroll said at the time.GP Racing pressed him gently about this, since he has almost become a cliché in the writing of F1 news that any story about him will refer to his checkbook before the first paragraph ends.And yet, it is evident that it has not reached where investors are dilapidating or, in fact, supporting many loser horses.

"Actually, none," he says."We invest to build a business for the future.I think I have never spent much or lost ".

Automobile manufacturer Aston Martin was a totally different class of active in difficulties compared to the F1 team that has now folded to the brand.Although he was doing most of the things well in terms of his range of models -a SUV was on the way, as well as a high -profile car designed in collaboration with Red Bull -, his IPO in October 2018 greatly overvalued the businessas was.When the demand collapsed inexplicably throughout 2019, the price of its shares followed a similar trajectory and went to the market to collect more effective.

The Stroll consortium rescued her from bankruptDescribe in the archives of the London Stock Exchange as "55.5 million pounds of short -term working capital support".Indeed, keep the lights on and paid salaries.

London Stock Exchange documents indicate the Consortium Rescue Plan -MexIt is still curious to know where the businessman experienced the line between an asset in difficulties with potential and an irremediable lost case.

"You sit with intelligent people and make due diligence," he says."This goes beyond a brand, it is an iconic 108 -year -old institution.Companies like this do not arise very often, and they cannot be recreated: another 108 years would be needed.For me it is, by far, the main British luxury brand, and probably the largest worldwide luxury brand ".

"And then it was a matter of understanding, well, what happened to the business? Why did he deviate? In the case of Aston Martin, after a few days of due diligence, it was very clear to me what happened and what had to bedo".

"There was a lot of risk when I assumed the position (Executive President) in April last year, there were five boxes that had to be reviewed.I have reviewed all and now we are on the path of success.The business is now devoid of risks and the impulse is simply phenomenal, as they have seen in our figures.And as I said in my last quarterly report, I have fulfilled everything I promised.So there was risk?Absolutely.Have we already left that risk behind?Completely".

These figures are impressive, although with the warning that the comparison of the first semester of 2021 with that of 2020 (the revenues increased from 146 million pounds to 499 million pounds, and the operational losses were reduced from 159 to 38 million pounds) is complicated by the effects of pandemic.Aston Martin has benefited from the repressed demand, but the company still has a large load of debt and can be affected by the stormy climate planned for the world economy.The City seems to have this opinion, since the growth of the price of the shares has stagnated since the beginning of the year, after a strong recovery in the second half of 2020.

There are also doubts about the realism of the declared objective of turning Aston Martin into a world champion team within five years.In the first place, as Renault has demonstrated widely by changing its own objectives in the last five years, it is easier to say it than to do it.

Potential uncertainties include the completion of the campus (the main building should be ready in 18 months, but the wind tunnel will not be operational until 2024), as well as the start dates of the new contracted personnel, due to the periods that must be withoutwork after disconnected from your previous teams.Luca Furbatto, by Alfa Romeo, will be incorporated as engineering director earlier this year, but the alleged technical director, Dan Fallows, is currently the subject of a long dispute with Red Bull.

The scope and scale of all this talent hunting is another indicator of Stroll's seriousness when turning his F1 team into a competitor for the world championship as part of a "billion dollars business".He talks about the new campus as something different in form and function to the McLaren Technology Center: Architecture will strongly reflect the Aston Martin brand and will be conceived as a pleasant environment to work, the best thing to recruit and retain key personnel.

"We are going to have what I think will be the best Fitness Center in F1 by far," he says."You can run outdoors, walk and we will have training abroad, therapists, fitness and physiotherapists instructors.It is a healthy body, a healthy mind ".In the plans of the three Campus buildings, the center focuses on that, on well -being and will have, by far, the best restaurant in F1.We will have a lot of food with the concept of the farm to the table, with fitness classes in the morning and at night.The better you feel, the better you will think ".

While the design and construction of road cars will continue at the Aston Martin base in Gaydon, some design and technology functions are expected to move to the new Silverstone campus, where they will join other businesses "to be determined".The F1 and the street cars business operate now under the widest umbrella of Aston Martin Performance Technologies, for which Stroll has hired Martin Whitmarsh, former McLaren man, as general general director.

McLaren recently sold his APPLIED division, a movement that its general director, Zak Brown, told GP Racing that it was a strategic decision because McLaren was a racing organization rather than a technology company.Stroll, curiously, does not consider that they are mutually exclusive.

"Formula 1 will be one of the main pillars, by far, of this group," he says."We will also have other businesses under Performance Technologies, and in years to come other racing activities perhaps.We will have a group of 700-800 professionals who will have knowledge that can be shared in several other business fields ".

"I don't see that having a performance technologies business is a F1 distraction.The goal of this is to be world champions in F1, that is the purpose of the new campus and the hiring campaign.Everything is based and focused on F1 ".

He pauses and then leans forward, staring at GP Racing to emphasize his point: "Very focused!"