If you were particularly taken by Aston Martin’s 2021 F1 Safety Car, as revealed earlier in the month, there’s some good news: you can now get your hands on one.
In creating the F1 Safety Car, Aston Martin took an ordinary Vantage and waved the Gaydon magic wand over it. There’s enhancements across the board, not only to make the car quicker in a straight line but to make it better everywhere on track, simply because the Safety Car’s most important job is keep the F1 pack behind it operating inside their ideal temperature envelope.
With that job done, Aston Martin’s CEO Tobias Moers set the engineers to work recreating the package on the road car too, to develop the Vantage F1 Edition.
Of course, that starts under the hood, with an additional 25hp to bring the V8 up to 528hp. Torque stays the same at a peak of 505lbft, but it’s available across a wider range of revs. The V8 is still paired to an eight-speed automatic gearbox, but Aston Martin has developed that to have shorter shift times.
You can’t help but notice the aerodynamic changes either, with the large rear wing and new front splitter and canards being very obvious visual differences. In fact there’s a whole suite of aero upgrades which are designed to give the F1 Edition 450lb (200kg) more downforce than the regular Vantage.
There’s also major changes to the suspension, with new dampers and an increase of the rear spring rate. Coupled to front-end reinforcement to increase chassis stiffness, the F1 Edition has a sharper turn-in and better stability in cornering.
While Aston Martin doesn’t detail any braking upgrades — they’re the regular 15.7-inch cast iron rotors up front, with carbon-ceramic available as an option — the F1 Edition does run new 21-inch wheels, with model-specific Pirelli rubber.
The F1 Edition comes in a number of exterior shades, but the most obvious choice is the racing green that appears on the Safety Car and the team’s AMR21 F1 car. Whichever paint you go for, all will get a matt gray racing stripe up the center of the car.
One exterior option that isn’t available though is the light bar, along with the flashing LED signage. However the Vantage F1 Edition also has one trick that the Safety Car doesn’t: you can buy it in convertible Roadster form.
If that all strikes you as a compelling package, the Vantage F1 Edition is on sale now with prices starting at $162,000 (£142,000, €162,000) for the coupe model. First deliveries will start in May, which gives you plenty of time to watch the real thing in action during the first part of the 2021 Formula One World Championship calendar.
See more articles on 2021 Formula One World Championship and Aston Martin.
