F1 News
Aston Martin "stand ready" to up F1 involvement if Honda pull out
Bobby Vincent
Aston Martin will "stand ready" to become Red Bull Racing's engine supplier if Honda do withdraw from Formula 1.
The English manufacturer has had a title sponsorship contract with Red Bull since 2018. Aston Martin has considered building an F1 engine to the 2021 regulation changes. However, Red Bull have recently switched from Renault power to Honda power since the last time it was openly spoken about.
Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer has confirmed the healthy relationship with Red Bull and Honda at the moment, and he has insisted his company will not try and muscle its way in, but will definitely be ready should the Japanese manufacturer not commit to the sport beyond 2020.
"Would I like to be a little bit more involved (in Formula 1) technically? I think that depends," Palmer told Motorsport.com. "The obvious place for Aston to become involved in would have been the engine. I think that's a question on whether Honda continues to develop the engine.
"Clearly they have a lot more money and musclepower than we do. I don't think we're going to muscle in on that while the relationship with Honda exists. We're very happy with that relationship and we're happy to see it continue. But nobody knows quite the regulations will be beyond 2021 and who is going to be involved in that.
"We stand ready from that point-of-view, with the hope that Honda will continue. Our focus is now mainly looking at the development of the Valkyrie, Valhalla, Vanquish series and the exploits in Le Mans."
