Aston Martin entered Formula One in 1959 with the DBR4, a front-engined car using the company's own engine. Drivers Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby contested the season but failed to score any championship points. For 1960, the team developed the revised DBR5, which was lighter and featured all-independent suspension, but still could not challenge the increasingly dominant rear-engined cars from Cooper and Lotus. Following another pointless season, Aston Martin withdrew from Formula One after the 1960 British Grand Prix to focus on sports car racing — a discipline in which the company had found greater success, most notably with the DBR1's victory at the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans. Both DBR5 chassis were subsequently scrapped in 1961.
Aston Martin's return to Formula One came through a commercial rebranding rather than a new construction effort. Lawrence Stroll, shareholder of Aston Martin Lagonda, owned the Racing Point F1 Team through AMR GP Limited. At the start of the 2021 season, Racing Point was renamed the Aston Martin F1 Team, making Aston Martin a constructor again for the first time in over sixty years.
The relaunched team ran as a customer of Mercedes, using that manufacturer's power units. Four-time World Drivers' Champion Sebastian Vettel joined Lance Stroll — son of Lawrence Stroll — as the race driver pairing for 2021 and 2022. Vettel secured the team's first podium finish at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He retired from Formula One at the end of 2022.
For the 2023 season, two-time World Drivers' Champion Fernando Alonso replaced Vettel alongside Lance Stroll. The Alonso–Stroll pairing continued into at least the 2025 season. During this period the team operated from a new 37,000 square metre factory complex at Silverstone, including a dedicated wind tunnel that became operational in 2025.
Beginning with the 2026 season, Aston Martin transitioned from customer Mercedes power to a works partnership with Honda Racing Corporation, receiving full factory support from the Japanese manufacturer. The 2026 regulations also saw the team produce its own transmission gearbox package for the first time. Significant technical leadership changes accompanied the new era, with Adrian Newey — regarded as one of the most successful designers in Formula One history — joining as a shareholder, and Enrico Cardile arriving as Chief Technical Officer.
The current Aston Martin Formula One team traces its continuous operational history back to Jordan Grand Prix, founded in 1991. Over subsequent decades the team raced under the names BAR, Honda, Brawn GP, Mercedes, and Force India before becoming Racing Point in 2019 and Aston Martin in 2021. This lineage means the organization has been present in Formula One without interruption for more than three decades, despite the Aston Martin name appearing only at the beginning and at the end of that span.
Aston Martin's two participations in Formula One reflect very different competitive contexts. The 1959–1960 effort was a well-intentioned but structurally doomed project caught on the wrong side of the mid-engine revolution. The modern chapter represents a well-resourced attempt to build a championship-contending team from an established operational base, with factory engine support and world-class technical recruitment underpinning ambitions for the sport's new regulatory era from 2026.