TOWCESTER, United Kingdom (PSF) — Releasing a few hours after McLaren, Aston Martin are now the seventh team to reveal their challenger for the 2023 F1 season in a launch event broadcasted from the legendary Silverstone Circuit, home of the British Grand Prix. With the team CEO being billionaire Lawrence Stroll, Lance Stroll remains as a driver for the team. However, with four-time World Drivers’ Champion Sebastian Vettel retiring, a seat opened up for someone to partner Stroll. Another champion filled the vacancy in the form of two-time champ Fernando Alonso following his departure from Alpine. An exciting driver lineup for a team that looks to improve from a disappointing seventh place finish in the Constructors’ Championship totaling just 55 points all season, a 22 point decrease from the previous season.

The Aston Martin brand in Formula 1, since the rebrand from Racing Point F1 Team, is just in its third year on the grid and the livery already feels like a classic. Aston Martin proves that simplicity works just as well as, if not, better than complexity with the shiny dark green paintjob along with the iconic stripe that runs along the base of the front wing all the way down the side of the car. I am happy with the fact that Aston Martin didn’t change much from the AMR22 to this year’s AMR23, but I was pleased with the minor changes the team made. These minor changes were changing the stripe color from a neon yellow to a regular yellow. This should look good when the team throws on medium tires that also don yellow stripes. They also changed the Aston Martin logo that sits next to the front suspension to no long match the color of the stripe and instead be white. It adds to the simplicity but doesn’t take anything away from the car’s overall appearance. Another bit of simplicity that was added to the car was making the front and rear wing flaps black instead of the dark green adding in accents of the stripe color. The black’s emergence helps establish it as a part of the Aston Martin color scheme rather than just seeming like empty space that the team didn’t know how to utilize so they just opted to make it black.

From a design standpoint, the AMR23 does look like one of the more exciting cars on the grid. Not saying that it will translate into countless podiums and race wins for the team of Stroll and Alonso, but they did take more risks than other teams. What jumps out to me is how they have decided to construct their sidepods. They are extremely deep, very curved, and rather wide. This is reminiscent of Ferrari last season as well as Alpine. The other design choice that stands out is the front wing that loops towards the end plates and curves downwards towards the middle.

The AMR23 is a car that gets me excited for the 2023 Formula 1 season. Not because I believe that it will blow everyone away with its performance, but it is a car that is extremely satisfying to look at and also takes risks in how it was put together. Thinking about the Aston Martin team that has been lead by the Stroll name, thanks to Lance’s father Lawrence, makes me wonder if it is Alonso who will be the one to take the team to the next level. That is, if everything goes according to plan.