• Speaking at a conference this week executive chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda, Lawrence Stroll said that the Vantage Safety Car positively impacted sales.
• The chairman said that between 300 and 400 Aston Martin Vantage F1 Editions have been sold since it started being used as an official Safety Car.
• Stroll said that the number seemed small, but was important for a company of Aston Martin’s size.

Last weekend saw the second ever Formula One (F1) Grand Prix race in Miami and surprisingly, every driver that started the race finished it. That is a rarity nowadays where Bernd Mayländer in Safety Car tends to be on track as much as the F1 cars. These days the driver has two options namely a Mercedes-AMG GT R and the subject of today’s story, an Aston Martin Vantage.

The trademark car of James Bond, Aston Martin is a relatively new addition to the F1 Safety Car roster and has featured since the manufacturer’s F1 team joined the grid.

This week, executive chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda, Lawrence Stroll was speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit and revealed something rather interesting about the Safety Car’s presence on track.

“There’s an expression, I didn’t believe it but we’re actually experiencing it: race on Sunday, sell on Monday,” Stroll said according to Business Insider.

The chairman valimed that since the Vantage has featured in races, Aston Martin has sold between 300 and 400 of its Vantage F1 Edition vehicles. This is a special edition of the Vantage that features a few nods to the motorsport and retails for $200 000 (~R3.7m).

“Sounds like a small number, but for a company of our size it’s relatively important,” the chairman added.

This aligns with Aston Martin’s financial results for 2022 (PDF) in which it said that over 70 percent of Vantage F1 Edition owners are new to the brand, “further demonstrating the positive impact that Aston Martin’s global presence in the sport [F1] is having on its brand image and appeal to new customers.”

We of course can’t ignore the F1 team itself.

As it stands Aston Martin is second in the Constructor Standings and Fernando Alonso is third in the Driver Standings. This success is sure to help the team reach a new level of popularity and maybe that will help Stroll sell a few more Vantage F1s.

That is provided the Safety Car is out on track and the next two races on the calendar may just see that happening. The next race is the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy which was soaking last year. Then the teams head to the tight streets of Monaco where the Safety Car tends to feature rather frequently so maybe Aston can sell a few more cars in the principality.

Truthfully, could we afford one we’d consider the Vantage F1 Edition if only for the reason that it’s able to keep up with a pack of hungry F1 drivers itching to hit 350km/h.