GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => F1 Teams => Topic started by: cosworth151 on September 25, 2017, 02:01:37 PM
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Aston Martin will become the title sponsor of Red Bull racing for next season. The team will be Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.
Aston Martin President and CEO, Andy Palmer, said: "Title partnership is the next logical step for our Innovation Partnership with Red Bull Racing. We are enjoying the global brand awareness that a revitalised Formula One provides. 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."
So, will next season's car be an Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda?
http://www.redbullracing.com/article/driving-future-innovation
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It seems weird for a car company/brand to sponsor a team, but not be actually making the car/engine. I'm aware that even 'owned' chassis/engine teams are still basically separate companies that subcontract everything but still, why put the name 'Aston Martin' on a car that has nothing to do with Aston Martin? If it does well there's confusion, yet if it does poorly, it reflects on the car company.
Is this simply a toe in the water? What is success?
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It seems weird for a car company/brand to sponsor a team, but not be actually making the car/engine. I'm aware that even 'owned' chassis/engine teams are still basically separate companies that subcontract everything but still, why put the name 'Aston Martin' on a car that has nothing to do with Aston Martin? If it does well there's confusion, yet if it does poorly, it reflects on the car company.
Is this simply a toe in the water? What is success?
They're replacing Infiniti. Possible toe-in-the-water, but I think it's more likely to result in Red Bull sponsoring some GT cars later, than anything being added to the F1 effort (other than money).
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The exact heritage of the AM engines are a bit murky, but as far as I can tell, they don't develop their own, just more like tune a Jag engine to their specs. So they most likely don't have the capability to be an F1 engine manufacturer. That said, perhaps they are exploring that possibility and this is a step in that direction. On the other hand, they could see the disastrous engine rules currently in F1 and have decided it is a heckuva lot easier and cheaper to just put stickers on the side than have anything to do with the inside.
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Infiniti is part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, so I'm not surprised to see them go.
The original Aston Martin V12 was based on the Jaguar V12 block. It was back in days when they were both owned by Ford. Aston did have its own heads, intakes and so forth.
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The exact heritage of the AM engines are a bit murky, but as far as I can tell, they don't develop their own, just more like tune a Jag engine to their specs. So they most likely don't have the capability to be an F1 engine manufacturer. That said, perhaps they are exploring that possibility and this is a step in that direction. On the other hand, they could see the disastrous engine rules currently in F1 and have decided it is a heckuva lot easier and cheaper to just put stickers on the side than have anything to do with the inside.
Of course, Ilmor makes 'Mercedes' engine (though I believe it is wholly owned by Mercedes now), Mecachrome makes 'Renault' engines, and when Ford DFVs dominated F1, it might surprise many here that a company called Cosworth actually made them.
Ferrari makes their own of course, and I believe that Honda does as well (though it is worth noting that Mugen-Honda was named for it's owner, the son of the founder of Honda, so not named for the company, and independent-ish)
So it's not uncommon for car companies to be in the sport in name only. However, I think this would be the first time a car company would be involved in the sport without even pretending to do anything besides sign cheques and glad hand VIPs. I do hope it's a step towards further involvement. Ferrari really is the biggest name in sports cars because of F1; it makes sense for their competitors in the show room to compete on the track.
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Now that Mercedes owns a bit of Aston Martin, it'll be interesting
to see if we'll see a little 3 pointed star on a red bull. What I would like to see is Rimac get a little more TV time from their association with Aston and Koenigsegg.
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Will they won't they?
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/aston-martin-staff-formula-experience-ferrari-965986/ (https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/aston-martin-staff-formula-experience-ferrari-965986/)