We're very confident. We started a little bit behind our competitors and Adrian only joined us in March. We didn't get our first wind Tunnel car into the wind Tunnel until April, so slightly behind our competitors I believe were in their tunnels in January. We have a lot of new, a lot of new partner with Honda, new power unit. We have a new gearbox we're making for the first time. We have new sustainable fuels with our fantastic partner a Ramco and Valveline for our Loubes in our engine, in
our gearbox. So there's a lot of new first time in seventy five year Formula One history that they're change at chassis and the power unit simultaneously. So it'll be very exciting, no doubt, be a lot to learn in the coming first coming races.
What would be what would be a win for you or what would be success for you in terms of placement this season?
What do you what do you expect to get? We don't really go in with expectations. We're going to try our best, do the best we can. I'm quite confident with the team we've put together and the partners I've just mentioned that we'll do a great job. You know, the set of rules is here with us for five years, so it's not about the first racer two, it's about the next five years. Again, extremely confident. We have the right people, we have the right tools, we have the
right processes, we have the right partners. So I'm very confident for extremely confident for our future.
We have seen reporting that Mercedes and Red Bull have found some kind of edge with variable engine compression. It's all very technical. Some have accused them of cheating like animals I think was a quote I heard. Others have defended them. Christian Horner came to their defense. What do you think about people looking for an edge in the rules ahead of the ahead of the season.
Listen, you're always looking for an edge in the rules and you're always looking to find loopholes. That's part of formula one. I'm not a technical power unit guru to really give an opinion on exactly what they've done, but I will leave it to those who are in the know. Obviously, there's a lot of talk going on between the various power unit teams and the FIA to check the legality of what they've done.
How about your confidence in Adrian Newey. Obviously everyone's very excited to see what he can do with your team, and other teams have looked with a little bit of wonder in awe at the suspension for example, that he's been able to create. What do you think are your biggest advantages with him?
You said it, it's having him. He is the goat, he is a unicorn. Nobody has a track record like he's had since his time's in Formula one, winning twenty five world championships. He is unique. There's one Adrian, and I am very blessed that he's my partner and with our team.
I was lucky enough to speak with George Kern last week, CEO of Brightling, and you now have new partnership with them. What do they bring to the team beyond you know the.
Well, Formula one is all about time, it's about to stop watch, it's about the clock. So one of the important partners is obviously a timekeeper. And you know there's a fashion aspect around Formula one of the way people dress, of attitudes, and I think Brightening captures the time component with their historic with their history, with their great time pieces. You know they have a history also in aviation. So I think it's very appropriate to these two great brands to be together.
By the way, a little bit of a curve ball here, Lawrence, because yesterday was the Super Bowl and the Seattle Seahawks were victorious. They're not too far away from Canada, and there reports that that team may be for sale. Would you ever consider going into another league, going into another sport beyond the track?
No, I have my plateful right now. I'm absolutely thrilled with what I'm doing, and sadly you just spoilt it for me because I was planning to go back to my hotel tonight and watch replay of the game because I was trying not to know who had won. So I made it this far. I'm okay. I apologize.
That's awful, although you know it was a super Bowl.
So that's okay.
In terms of the In terms of the f one team that that you, I mean, valuations have been amazing. There reports now that maybe al Alpine is looking to sell a steak, and I wonder if you would be interested in selling any of your steak or your team at this point, because it's worth so much.
Yeah. No, I'm very satisfied with my shareholding. We're not looking to sell any shares. We're looking to grow the business and to do great in the sport.
Let's talk about the car business. I've been lucky enough to have seat time in the in the Vanquish as well as the Vantage and the and the DBX there. They're amazing cars, and I have to say that a huge alternative to Ferrari is what you offer and something that has more beauty then sort of the kind of technical prowess that the Italians have leaned into.
What do you think the market is.
Getting wrong about ast and Martin the business?
I think it's just a question of time. Not many people learned about the DBX. They're actually finding out about it now. They were not familiar that we even made an suv because we don't historically make a product like that. It's actually doing extremely well at the moment. The Vanquish, as you say, is on fire. We have a fantastic order book for that, as well as dB twelve and as well as Vantage. So for us, it's now a matter of sticking with our portfolio, growing our demand, getting
our dealers in place. The dealers weren't used of also having such a diverse product offering from the company, particularly with the launch of Valhalla, so you know, not so different than Formula One. Everything takes time. I've been in the road car business a similar amount the time as I've been in the Formula One team, and it's also a ten year journey. So we're quite pleased with where we are, and we're quite pleased with the portfolio that exists.
I'm very excited about the portfolio it'll be coming in the years to come.
I'd say I drove the DBX through our snowstorm in New York last week and it functioned perfectly. I wouldn't want to change a thing there with the vantage I might like to add an extra pedal. And I wonder if you've thought about leaning into the analog side of things. Aston Martin has always represented like a mechanical intimacy, whereas Ferrari seems to be leaning into sort of technical and computational excellence. Do you think that would be a good analog.
We introduced two manual specials, so we already have two five speeds that we've introduced in the last three years to great demands. So we believe that, as you call the analog is still very relative for today's particularly Aston Martin customers.
So you don't think there's any room for a manual vantage at your dealerships, because it does seem like when I look through the you know, the the auctions and the used car listings, they command a huge premium, sometimes one hundred percent premium for a manual car over an automatic.
Yeah, that's probably true. No, that's not planned for our lineup at the moment.