A consortium headed by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll purchased the team back in 2018 when they went bankrupt as Force India, before rebranding them to their current Racing Point name.

But after he bought a share in British car manufacturer Aston Martin, it was confirmed that the brand would be brought to Formula 1 as Stroll's team was renamed again from Racing Point to Aston Martin, effective from 2021.

And Szafnauer says it's a "three-year plan" for the team to get back to the top. They haven't won in F1 since the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix when they were known as Jordan.

'Three-year plan'

Szafnauer told the official F1 website: "It's probably a three-year plan for us. The factory will take a couple of years, and hiring the right people takes a couple of years, and during that transition phase, you won't be at a 100% at where you want to be until you get there, and then you have got to work together.

"So it's a three-year plan, but every year we should be getting better, we should never take a step backwards. Our goal is to break into the top three in that time and be competitive at that level and have a chance at winning races and be regular podium finishers."

"Even if we're not top three, say the top three become top four and we're part of that, or even top five and someone else joins us, but we're all competing at that level where the top three currently are, that would be a success for us."

Racing Point secured P7 in the Constructors' Championship last season in what was their first full campaign under that identity – Sergio Perez scored 52 of their 73 points.