Aston Martin adopts new Formula 1 chassis naming convention

Although the team is carrying over the RP20 chassis from last year, which helped it to fourth place in the constructors' championship, it will change the chassis designation of its F1 challenger to the AMR21 for this season.

The new car, which will be powered by Mercedes engines again, is being launched in a digital event on 3 March.

The AMR21 chassis name comes after Aston Martin's previous efforts in F1 were with the famous DBR4 in 1959/1960 and the DBR5 in 1960.

Aston Martin's new car will be painted in iconic British racing green colours, with the team having ended a title sponsorship with Austrian water treatment company BWT - which had resulted in the car's livery being bright pink.

With teams forced to carry over a lot of last year's parts in to this season, no outfit is running with an all-new car for 2021.

However, Aston Martin estimates that there will be just 50% carry over from last year's successful RP20 - with a major focus being on upgrading the aerodynamic elements of the car.

Technical director Andrew Green began work on the developments last August, just after the 2020 season began, having also devoted a big effort to introducing some mid-season upgrades.

Aston Martin's return to F1 with a works effort comes off the back of a push to revitalise the British sportscar manufacturer by Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll.

Having taken over the assets of Force India and entered it as the new Racing Point team in 2018, he later led a consortium to buy into Aston Martin.

Aston Martin is racing with a new driver line-up this season as Sebastian Vettel has been signed to partner with Lance Stroll.

Last year, Racing Point took a famous victory at the Sakhir Grand Prix when Sergio Perez recovered from a first lap incident to claim a win.

The Mexican had his contract terminated by Racing Point to make way for Vettel, but his availability so late in the season proved perfect for Red Bull, which snapped him up for this year as replacement for Alex Albon.