Behind the pass: How Aston Martin Aramco is reimagining the culinary experience in the F1 paddock

What happens when great restaurants meet the pace and demands of the F1 paddock? Aston Martin Aramco is finding out, one chef and one menu at a time – with Max Coen, whose career has taken him from Stockholm's Frantzén to London's Ikoyi and Dorian, the latest chef to take over The House kitchen.

Knives on boards, pans on heat, plates being finished and carried through to service. A kitchen in full flow.

This could be any great restaurant kitchen. Except this one is inside the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team House at the heart of the Silverstone paddock.

This season, we're bringing some of the most exciting chefs in the industry into The House, giving them the opportunity to bring their own approach to food into an entirely different setting.

Following our collaborations with Miami's COTOA and Monaco's La Rose des Vents, each bringing its own distinct perspective to the table earlier in the season, chef Max Coen took over The House kitchen at the team's home race, the British Grand Prix. Formerly of Michelin-starred Dorian in Notting Hill, Max created and cooked a different lunchtime menu each day, with three sittings serving 120 guests every day across the race weekend.

It was a new environment for Max, but the fundamentals were familiar: exceptional ingredients, careful preparation and a team working in sync.

"It was really fun, and very different to what I'm used to – mostly because of logistics," he says. "You're dealing with a completely different infrastructure."

Max's career has taken him through some of the UK's most respected kitchens. He started cooking in London with Gordon Ramsay before moving to Stockholm and joining Frantzén, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant that introduced him to fine dining at the highest level. Back in London, he worked with Jeremy Chan at two-Michelin-starred Ikoyi. And in 2022, he co-founded Dorian, bringing his fine-dining background to a neighbourhood bistro. Max went on to win a Michelin star in the 2024 guide, in just over a year of opening.

Now, as he prepares to pursue his own project in London, the F1 paddock offered a different kind of challenge.

"What I loved is seeing the food go from the kitchen to the paddock," he says. "It starts in what is, of course, a good kitchen, but then it goes upstairs into this pristine environment in The House.

"Watching that journey – from ingredients coming in, to being cooked and then hitting the table looking stunning – has been great."

Making that journey work is part of Charlie Malik's role as Aston Martin Aramco Senior Sous Chef and VIP Menu Lead. He joined the team after working at Bristol restaurant Wilson's and London's two-Michelin-starred The Clove Club, bringing with him a focus on British produce, seasonality and sustainability.

"It's definitely a baptism of fire," he says. "It's a very unique environment."

Unlike a permanent restaurant, the Aston Martin Aramco kitchen has to adapt to a new location, new suppliers and new conditions at every Grand Prix.

"We effectively have 24 different sets of suppliers a year, one for each race," says Charlie. "You build relationships with them that you have to nurture."

Behind the scenes, there is a huge amount to coordinate. The challenge is turning all that work into a seamless experience that feels exceptional for the guest.

"We're always striving to cook the best food we can," says Charlie. "We want to look after our team and our guests. It's hard work, but it's also a lot of fun."

That same attention to detail shaped the Silverstone menu. Max began with the produce: British ingredients at their seasonal peak, sourced from suppliers he trusted. Berries and summer vegetables formed part of the menu, alongside Lake District beef, seafood and scallops.

"I definitely started with British produce as a source of inspiration," he says. "Summer is my favourite period of the year; berries are in season, and almost every vegetable you can think of is at its best."

The setting influenced the menu too, albeit subtly.

"I was also thinking about the precision and speed of an F1 car and the racing," says Max. "That sense of refinement and control naturally found its way into how the dishes were constructed and presented."

For Charlie, that balance is central to Aston Martin Aramco's culinary approach.

"I'd describe what we're doing as understated but still luxurious and elegant," he says. "It's not over the top or ostentatious, but it feels elevated."

The food is refined, but it is designed to work in the paddock: dynamic, shareable and sociable rather than formal or overly elaborate. That distinction matters. The ambition isn't to recreate a restaurant inside the paddock; it's to bring the standards, ideas and expertise of great restaurants into an environment with its own rhythm and demands. And that process is still evolving.

Being part of that evolution is what made the Silverstone collaboration particularly interesting for Max.

"I think for any chef, it's an honour to be associated with a Formula One team and to cook in this environment," he says. "Being part of that evolution, from basic catering to a proper culinary experience, feels really special."

Silverstone was the latest in a series of culinary collaborations planned across this season, with leading chefs set to join the team and take over the menu at the Italian, Singapore, United States and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.