Aston Martin in F1?

[Greenlantern101]

Sounds like Aston Martin are wanting at the minimum a sponsorship deal in F1 if not an actual team.
The key seems to be Redbull using Merc engines, but they are also looking at other teams.

Adrian Newey has been working with their design team since early this year on a road car project.

Interesting to see where this leads.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motorsport/aston-martin-boss-confirms-f1-interest
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119879
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/9905035/aston-martin-say-it-is-improbable-they-will-enter-f1

 

[cider_and_toast]

Interestingly, Daimler AG own 5% of Aston Martin and supply Mercedes engines to the company which explains the Mercedes - Aston Martin relationship. There are further F1 links with Dave Richards the former BAR Team Manager being the Chairman of Aston Martin and who also owns the Prodrive company based in Banbury which look after Aston Martin's racing team.

In those articles, Aston Martin has been linked with Force India, Williams and Red Bull. It would all depend on what they want to get out of any relationship. Their car sales have been falling for a number of years now and there wouldn't seem to be the money in the kitty to launch a full blown F1 effort.

 

[Titch]

I really hope that Aston Martin are not foolish enough to get involved in F1. They will only end up destroying their reputations, which would be a pity.

 

[gethinceri]

They'll be in & out like the Hokey-Cokey.

 

[RasputinLives]

Why does it make me think back to the Jaguar entry?

Anyways if Dave Richards is involved then I'm sure it will go up in smoke. Didn't he try and enter Aston Martin before using the 'Prodrive' name? I seem to remember they had their entry accepted but pulled out when they were told they couldn't use customer cars from Mclaren.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I thought Dave Richards was running hotels down in Cornwall now anyway?