Motorsport.com:
“I think we are reasonably comfortable in understanding the technical strategy, the debate for us now is what is called sometimes the sporting strategy,” he said. "This is the restriction on dyno, the restriction on manpower, the cost caps, the sharing of parts.
“And frankly, in many respects, that is more important to us than the technical regulations, because that determines whether we have the financial resources to go into competition with the likes of Mercedes and the enormous amount of money that they have and can throw at this sport.
“We are a much smaller company and we don’t have those resources, so that is the big debate for us.”
“The only reason for going further is if we have an innate belief that we can help Red Bull and we can win,” he said. “And it is very much coming from a background of, how do you keep Red Bull racing in a context of difficult supply conditions?
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/asto ... n-1047224/
I don't know what trick Horner played on this guy but its clearly working; he's coming across very naive in my opinion. A.) Why is it Aston Martin's duty to guarantee an engine supply to RBR in case Honda and/or Renault withdraw or deny engine supply. And B.) Why go ahead if it's very likely that you do not have the resources and will be severely outspend?
The entire Aston Marin engine supply is far fetched in my opinion. Honda have a reputation to re-build and have a chance to enter the new regulations without a year(+) disadvantage this time around. Renault, although focusing on their own team might consider a costumer deal with RBR in the future if all other options fail - and might very much be forced to do so by the FIA/FOM. And than the issue of expenditure; Mercedes have an entire operation with hundreds of people dedicated to their F1 PU. Even if the FIA & FOM intend to restrict and reduce expenditure, it's not going to happen overnight. Wolff has already indicated so; he's not going to allow his engineers to lose their job. If any cost-saving deal materializes at all, it will almost certainly dictate a reducting of work force over an extented period of time; possibily until 2025. Surely Aston Martin isn't naive enough believe they'll be on equal footing already by 2021?
In my opinion, if given the option, Red Bull as an global brand is much more likely to continue their partnership and association with Honda than to turn to Aston Martin for a full-on technical partnership. The brand synergies between RB and Honda are just too strong, and so are the technical and financial capabilities of Honda compared to Aston Martin.
