The development of the incredible Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar continues, and the latest prototypes were given a shakedown at the Silverstone circuit by Red Bull Racing drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon. Each driver took to the track in the VP1 - the first verification prototype - which initially made its debut last year.
Following a brief stint at the wheel, Verstappen seemed impressed, saying: "I was here at Silverstone to watch the first runs of the Aston Martin Valkyrie at the British Grand Prix last year but of course it's always better to be behind the wheel yourself, and to be one of the first guys to drive an insane car like this was really exciting. It was amazing to get a first taste of it. Of course it's still in the development phase, but you can already feel the pace, which compared to a normal car is... pretty different! The Aston Martin Valkyrie and its levels of downforce are incredible, and it looks super aggressive. It was a lot of fun out there."
Alongside the Red Bull Racing drivers was Aston Martin's high-performance test driver Chris Goodwin and Aston Martin Racing WEC drivers Darren Turner and Alex Lynn. They took to the track in two additional prototypes, VP2 and VP3, which both received an initial shakedown before beginning the next stage of development. The entire development programme of the car will see eight verification prototypes built that will be used for a wide variety of different tasks.
First customer deliveries are set to begin later in 2020.
After some time in the car, Chris Goodwin said: "This event has been an incredibly important step in Aston Martin Valkyrie's story. To have three cars now running will see the rate of physical development for this exceptional hypercar increase exponentially. Both Max and Alex were both really positive of the direction that we're currently taking and could see that the ingredients for an exceptionally high-performing car are already there ready to be untapped. To have that second opinion and validation doesn't mean the hard work is done already, but this is a great step on our journey".
The lucky few that have secured a production slot won't have that much longer to wait. Aston Martin plans to start deliveries of the Valkyrie in the second half of 2020. In the meantime, development work between Aston Martin and Red Bull Advanced Technologies will continue apace.