Red Bull Racing officially confirmed the long-standing rumors of an Aston Martin-Red Bull link up this Monday, stating that the team will be known as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing for 2018. Aston Martin has no plan to brand or manufacture the team’s chassis or engines at this time, serving as a title sponsor instead.
Aston Martin’s deal is similar to that of Infiniti following Red Bull’s title winning years. Ironically, both deals were signed by the same CEO, Andy Palmer, who become the CEO of Aston Martin in late 2014. Infiniti was the title sponsor of Red Bull Racing from 2013 to 2015, leaving the team because of Red Bull’s bickering with engine supplier Renault.
A new Advanced Performance Centre will be in Red Bull’s factory in Milton Keynes, producing more than 100 new jobs and allowing Red Bull staff to assist with Aston Martins next supercar project.
However, Aston Martin’s partnership with Red Bull Racing may end the same way as Infiniti’s in 2015. Red Bull is under serious threat of losing their engine supply deal with Renault, leaving them without a competitive engine. Toro Rosso is preparing to switch over to the Honda engine at the end of the season, but it’s fair to say that the Honda engine is anything but competitive at the moment and still requires a lot more work to get it to Red Bull Racing standards.
Aston Martin may be looking to start producing engines of their own for Formula One, but like most engines suppliers with a Formula One interest, it won’t be until the engine regulation changes for the 2021 season.
“We are enjoying the global brand awareness that a revitalised Formula One provides,” said Andy Palmer, the President and CEO of Aston Martin. “The power unit discussions (in Formula One) are of interest to us, but only if the circumstances are right. We are not about to enter an engine war with no restrictions in cost or dynamometer hours but we believe that if the FIA can create the right environment we would be interested in getting involved.”
