MOTORSPORT: Aston Martin for F1 with Red Bull

Aston Martin is set to reveal within hours a tie-up with Red Bull Racing in Formula 1.

Ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, F1 is abuzz with talk of the prestige British manufacturer returning to the sport after more than half a century.

Britain’s authorative Autosport says Aston Martin will partner Red Bull in a deal linked to a road car project collaboration.

It won’t be clear until an announcement in Melbourne at 6:30pm whether the arrangement will lead to an F1 engine built by or badged Aston Martin.

Tomorrow Australia’s F1 star Daniel Ricciardo and his Russian teammate Daniil Kyvat will take to the Albert Park circuit with Renault engines badged TAG Heuer for the first time.

However, Red Bull tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz and his racing lieutenants, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, have been keen to secure a new manufacturer to better challenge Mercedes and Ferrari, as well as battle Renault’s reborn factory team and Honda-powered McLaren.

Aston Martin chief executive Andy Palmer is known to have arrived in Melbourne for tonight’s announcement.

“As part of the deal, the Aston Martin name will appear on the rear of the Red Bull's sidepods and its iconic wings on the nose from the season-opening Australian GP,” Autosport says.

“The move brings the British sports car manufacturer back to F1, over half a century after its previous brief foray in 1959 and 1960.”

Autosport had reported last July that Aston Martin, which is part-owned by Mercedes, was negotiating a return to F1 in a tie-up with Red Bull that might have brought the team Mercedes engines.
Today, Autosport – known as the “bible” of motorsport through its long-running weekly magazine and in recent years its website – added:

“The British sports car maker held discussions with a number of other teams, including Williams and Force India, and as talks progressed, Force India emerged as a front-runner.

“But a deal that would have led to the Silverstone-based team rebranded Aston Martin Racing was put on hold earlier this year.

“Talks about an F1 return continued, with Aston Martin keen to have a presence in F1 to take on sports car rivals McLaren and Ferrari on track as well as off, and a deal with Red Bull was finalised.

“Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer and director of marketing and communications Simon Sproule have experience working with Red Bull as they were involved in securing the team's Infiniti sponsorship.

“Infiniti, which is part of the Nissan alliance, began sponsoring the team in 2011 before taking over as title sponsor in 2013 and then cutting ties at the end of last season and moving to Renault (following the French manufacturer’s takeover of the Lotus team).”

The Volkswagen group has long been touted as a potential entrant to F1, perhaps through its Audi brand that has dominated the Le Mans 24-Hour sports car classic this century, most recently with hybrid engines, although sister brand Porsche toppled it there last year.

However, the VW parent company and Audi have repeatedly denied interest in F1, most recently saying they are deterred by the uncertainty in the sport’s rules.

British-based Williams and Force India, also British-based but still seemingly Indian-controlled despite its owner Vijay Mallya’s mounting financial problems, both use Mercedes engines in F1.

It had seemed that global alcoholic spirits company Diageo would forge a link with Aston Martin if and when it gained control of Mallya’s beverages business in India and took over his F1 team.

While Diageo seems to have largely gained control of the liquor business, Mallya still insists he is in charge of that team, although he is now being pursued by Indian authorities over debts of more than $A1.7 billion and allegations of money laundering.