Formula 1

VIDEO : WILL ASTON MARTIN BE A REAL WORKS F1 TEAM?

Published

2 years ago

01/02/2020

FATI'S F1 writer

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The news that Racing Point will become Aston Martin from 2021 has been one of the biggest developments in the world of F1 during the off-season. Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer has shed some light on the deal that resulted in the rebranding.

Video : Will Aston Martin be a real works f1 team?

“I’m getting too old for all-nighters, but let’s just say it was a late night!”

He would go on to elaborate how Lawrence Stroll’s investment of £182 million would help Aston Martin.

“It has been time-consuming, but as I sit here now the company is better funded than it has ever been in the past, with a good product cadence in plan as per the second-century plan and with a commitment to build our own V6 hybrid in the UK. That is compelling.”

It’s worth stressing that the hybrid power unit Palmer mentioned is referring to their own in-house unit designed for their future road cars. Nevertheless, it does raise some eyebrows over the potential for the manufacturer to dive in as a full-blown F1 works team down the line.

Currently this seems out of reach for the British car maker given that they often have been using Mercedes engines for their own cars and Racing Point (soon to be Aston Martin) are still expected to be supplied in F1 with Mercedes power units for the short-term foreseeable future.

However, with the new V6 turbo hybrid they’re designing and building in house for their road cars and their recent close ties with Cosworth – who actually already designed and built an F1 spec hybrid era engine, albeit going unused by any teams – it seems plausible that Aston Martin may one day be a fully-fledged works outfit.