Aston Martin set to become primary Red Bull F1 team sponsor (2nd Update)

Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull

UPDATE This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' today. Eighteen months after launching an Innovation Partnership that led to the redefinition of automotive possibility with the game-changing Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar, Red Bull Racing is set to similarly redefine the Formula One grid with the announcement that the iconic sports car brand Aston Martin is to become its title partner from 2018 onwards, with the team competing as ‘Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’.

The strengthened ties between the two brands is far more than a skin-deep exercise, with the expanded technical partnership taking concrete form in the shape of a new Advanced Performance Centre being established at Red Bull Racing’s campus later this year.

The new Centre will create 110 new jobs housing Aston Martin’s design and engineering personnel responsible for future sports cars from the two companies. The new center will allow a closer working relationship between the two leading brands in their respective fields which will see the adoption of both F1 and road car technology.

Christian Horner, Team Principal of Red Bull Racing said: “Our Innovation Partnership with Aston Martin has been a pioneering project from day one. Having conceived and created the remarkably successful Aston Martin Valkyrie together in 2016, we extended our relationship this year and are now delighted to further strengthen the partnership and see the team competing as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing in 2018.

In addition, more than100 Aston Martin staff will service the new Advanced Performance Centre on our campus here in Milton Keynes and it will allow us to collaborate further with Aston Martin on special, equally innovative, new projects."

Aston Martin President and CEO, Andy Palmer, added: “Title partnership is the next logical step for our Innovation Partnership with Red Bull Racing. We are enjoying the global brand awareness that a revitalized 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."

The relationship between Aston Martin and Red Bull began in 2016 after the two companies combined cutting edge F1 technology and Aston Martin’s signature sports car design to produce a ground breaking hypercar. The Aston Martin Valkyrie is set to be the first in a line of new products to be borne of this Innovation Partnership and will make its first run in 2018 before being delivered to customers in 2019.
Aston Martin will feature prominently across the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team from the start of the 2018 season.

Andy Palmer

09/18/17 (GMM) Aston Martin looks set to become Red Bull's title sponsor next year.

Although the energy drink owned team uses a Tag-Heuer branded Renault engine, Red Bull is also sponsored by the British luxury carmaker Aston Martin.

And in Singapore, one prominent attendee was Andy Palmer, the Aston chief executive.

Earlier in the weekend, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was asked about Porsche entering F1 but insisted "We have an existing relationship with an OEM that don't make F1 engines".

He was clearly referring to Aston Martin.

When asked if Aston might build an engine for Red Bull, Horner answered: "They can't do that now, so it would have to be for 2021."

Palmer confirmed: "We are studying the 2021 engine. If we get a reasonable regulation that brings down the cost, Aston would like to be involved."

In the meantime, Aston Martin looks set to ramp up its involvement by becoming the Red Bull title sponsor in 2018.

"Our partnership with Aston Martin continues to thrive and there will be further developments in this regard," said Horner.

Again, Palmer confirmed: "We'd like to be involved a little more next season and then join the dots."

Max Verstappen in the Red Bull

09/17/17

Luxury British sports car manufacturer Aston Martin is set to become the title sponsor of the Red Bull F1 team from 2018 Formula One season Autosport.com claims.

The sources have indicated that the contract to name the team Aston Martin Red Bull Racing will be announced in the coming weeks.

“You can speculate all you like but I’m not going to confirm anything," team principal Christian Horner told Autosport.

“We’ve got a great relationship with Aston, obviously working on and developing the Valkyrie hypercar for them.

“They’re doing a great job, the product is great, and they’ve got a lot of great stuff in the pipeline. There will be news to follow in weeks to come."

Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer, who agented Red Bull’s Infiniti contract when in his previous job, admitted that the two companies intend to extend their association.

“It’s fair to say that one of the reasons I’m here today is to discuss what next season looks like," he told Autosport at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.

“And within that context, do we or don’t we provide an independent engine in 2021? And then join the dots.

“We like the sport and we are a company that aspires to be as valuable as Ferrari.

“That doesn’t mean that we have to copy Ferrari in every way, shape and form. We’re stronger in WEC, but having a presence in F1 is interesting."

Palmer has previously admitted that Aston Martin could be interested in a future F1 engine program, depending on the outcome of the 2021 rules discussions.

Aston is currently a sponsor of Red Bull Racing, and is working with Adrian Newey on the Valkyrie road car project – which uses a Cosworth developed engine.

“We sit on the periphery of F1, with the Valkyrie, and with Red Bull," Palmer told Autosport.

“There’s always that question, would you want to enter as a team? Our major competitor is Ferrari, so in that sense there’s a rationale in being involved in some way.

“But for a company that’s only just moved to making a profit we don’t have the 350-400 million a year that you have to spend on F1.

“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. At the moment there are lots of opinions, and it’s still morphing into whatever the final idea will be."