“We cancelled those plans.” Andy Palmer on Aston Martin joining F1

Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer has confirmed that Aston Martin have lost interest in making a Formula One engine after the sport changed its mind about the rules from 2021.

“When it looked like the rules were going to change, we did take a look at whether we should do our own engine for F1,” Palmer said when speaking to Reuters.

“But then [commercial rights holders] Liberty [Media] essentially changed their mind and continued with the current engine, so we cancelled those plans.”

The British car maker have been Red Bull’s title sponsor for this year and had show an initial interest into making engines for the proposed rules and regulations when they were originally announced earlier in the year.

Liberty Media had planned on introducing simpler and cheaper engines to be created to introduce new manufacturers to the sport by making some components available to new makers for a cost and scrapping the MGU-H.

“The premise that was being put forward originally was an investment cap on the engine and it would be simplified,”

“Simplification was around the turbocharger and the energy recovery, essentially taking that unit out which is where the majority of the development exists. As soon as the cap was removed, it was not viable for us.”

Mercedes has dominated the sport over other engine manufacturers; Ferrari, Renault and Honda, since the introduction of the turbo hybrid era in 2014. However, the gap is closing between the four making the races a bit less predictable.