The 2018 season is going well for Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, but this year’s RB14 car is powered by 1.6-litre, turbo-charged hybrid engine branded by TAG Heuer, rather than an Aston Martin power unit. Hopefully it will be clearer in September, and that will allow us to make a proper decision.“I’ve never been a fan of just simple sponsorship. I think eventually either the FIA or F1 have got to step up and say, ‘This is what we’ve got to do.’”Palmer went on to say that getting Aston Martin involved in F1 would benefit the brand as it would provide some prestige to its road cars if the technology could be traced the to racetrack. Who knows, but the fact that Aston Martin (and many other outside manufacturers) have an interest in the potential new engine formula can only be good news for the sport.The Aston Martin Valkyrie is being designed in conjunction with Red BullTechnical Analysis: Which Masks Have Teams Opted For In The Austrian GP Paddock?6 Things To Watch Out For This Season That You Might Have Forgotten AboutOn This Day In F1 - Webber Did A Spectacular BackflipVerstappen And Norris Collided While Fighting For The Lead In A Sim Race At SpaOn This Day In F1 - 13 Drivers Crashed Out In One Lap During A Freak Hail StormThe WEC's New Hypercar Class Has Been Plunged Into UncertaintyOn This Day In F1 - Mark Webber Ragged His Williams Across The Sydney Harbour BridgeOn This Day In F1 - Nico Rosberg Won His First RaceOn This Day In F1 - Montoya Was Given A Ridiculous Penalty Aston’s decision will depend on changes to engine regulations slated to take effect in 2021, but several teams are already showing interest, according to While Aston doesn’t have much of a history in Formula One, joining the fray as an engine supplier could give the series a much-needed shakeup. 'Several' F1 Teams Are Chasing Aston Martin Engine Supplies. The British manufacturer, which will become Red Bull's title sponsor next season, is interested in F1's next engine rules cycle, but wants costs to be heavily reduced. Since F1 adopted its current hybrid powertrain rules in 2014, Mercedes-Benz has dominated the racing, with Ferrari and Renault struggling to keep up, and Andy Palmer, Aston’s CEO, said he was “encouraged” by the direction 2021 engine-rule talks are taking. I always try to get some degree of authenticity, and the more authenticity the better really. Aston Martin is hinting at supplying engines for Formula One racing, and that's something teams reportedly want. Aston Martin may expand its role in Formula One by supplying engines for the series, which is billed as the world’s most prestigious form of racing. Clearly everybody accepts that you need more theatre in F1, you need more noise, you don’t want to restrict too much of the performance, but you have to bring the costs of entry down. With a relatively limited array of engine suppliers, F1 could use a new player. And I don’t think it ever will be.
Either way, I’m all for seeing Aston Martin try their hand at building an F1 engine—so long as they don’t suck. Aston Martin Is Interested In Becoming An Engine Supplier In F1 In 2021 Formula 1 News When F1 introduces its new engine formula in 2021 Aston Martin has said it would be interested in having its own engine programme, as long as the costs are kept down “If - and it really is the big if - there is a cap put on the number of people or the amount of money that you can spend on developing a new engine, and it’s at a reasonable level, we have a good reason to study it.”It all seems very hypothetical at the moment and 2021 is long way away, but Aston Martin was one of the manufacturers that was involved with the early discussions over the next set of engine rules and has been researching what the engine configuration would be, though Palmer said a solution is still some way off.“It’s definitely going in the right way. If Aston did enter F1 it would prefer to not to do so simply by rebranding someone else’s engine and instead having its own degree of technical involvement.
Roping in a new engine supplier would be a coup for F1, but Aston will have to be careful not to bite off more than it can chew.A more active role in F1 could help Aston sell more cars, but only if teams using its engines actually win races. Aston Martin has ramped up plans to enter Formula 1 as an engine supplier from 2021 by moving its head of powertrain, former Ferrari man Joerg Ross, to work on its concept. Just developing the expensive F1 powertrain will be a tall order for a small company like Aston, and there is no guarantee that whatever the engineers come up with will be competitive.Nonetheless, it’s interesting to see more automakers getting involved in F1, even if most of the activity is on a somewhat superficial level. But if we can put it in the other direction, and we can find something where we can contribute technically, then I’m all in favour.”So, could we really be seeing Aston Martin back in F1 at the beginning of the next decade, 60 years after its last appearance in the championship? At the moment the authenticity comes through Valkyrie, and the fact that Adrian Newey is working with us. Aston will be Red Bull’s title sponsor in 2018, Lewis Hamilton happy with F1’s more joined-up approach to anti-racism demonstration for British GPFour arrested after Extinction Rebellion protest at British Grand PrixLewis Hamilton pleased with ‘more organised’ anti-racism message at Silverstone2020 F1 World Championship points after the British Grand PrixRoubini: Trump, Congress are 'playing with fire' by dragging out stimulus talksTips for reducing long-term financial disruption amid COVID-19'This is the beginning of the end of Big Tech as we know it': NYU professor GallowayAnalyst: VOD deal between NBCUniversal, AMC will likely 'dampen movie attendance,' hurt industryTokyo Paralympic competition schedule will be same next year‘Dollar signs with heartbeats’: How for-profit schools blazed a trail of pain in America
While not finalized, the new rules are expected to retain the current hybrid powertrain format, but make the powertrains a bit less complex. There’s always that question, would you want to enter as a team?