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Hearing a rumour Aston Martin could enter F1 and supply Red Bull, using rebadged Mercedes engines.
Mercedes do own 5% of AM but it's interesting that Mercedes have apparently given their blessing to the supply of a rival, which could happen as soon as next season.
This would also give the impression of more manufacturer involvement, even if it's the same cynical approach as used by infiniti.
Of course the other benefit would be a quelling of the incessant Red Bull bleating.
I understand that the Infiniti deal would be gone as its a Back to Back with Renault. So the team would be a Aston Martin Red Bull-Mercedes in effect.
Mercedes will use this to offset their development costs with each of its customers paying around €15m to €18m, at present its €18m to €21m. 4 teams would pay in effect half to two-fifths of the Mercedes AMG HPP budget each year to my figures. It makes sense to me i see for Mercedes.
That leaves STR, who I am gonna say will go to Ferrari power again, as they can pay the €20m a year for a present Ferrari power train. That would leave Sauber and Haas as their customers.
Renault, i think are going to pull out of F1 for a year and come back on their own with a better power plant and their own Chassis again. However, Renault have looked at the possibility of supplying LMP2 engines.
That leaves McLaren and Honda, who are going to buy into Manor at some stage, Honda will give them a discounted engine and McLaren will give them Vandoorne for the season. Also McLaren will also give the Manor guys some staff that are eager to learn and gain experience in F1 at a engineering level and potentially at a design level too. Not to mention the gearbox support as well.
Lets see what happens, but the Aston Martin brand in F1 would be brilliant. Shame to loose Renault, but they seem to be looking at LMP2 and FE as its better brand exposure for their buck. However, ill give it 5 or 6 years before they are back as they did before, Renault don't leave for long, they never do.
Everybody will know that the Aston Martin engine is indeed a Merc.This will only destroy the reputation of F-1 as pinnacle of motorsport a little more...
Make it happen! Red bull with Mercedes engines should spice up the battle at the front. They are not as great a teams as they once were, but they'd surely be up there racing Ferrari and Williams if not Mercedes as well. Honestly hope this happens. I won't miss Renault one second.
FoxHound wrote:Hearing a rumour Aston Martin could enter F1 and supply Red Bull, using rebadged Mercedes engines.
Mercedes do own 5% of AM but it's interesting that Mercedes have apparently given their blessing to the supply of a rival, which could happen as soon as next season.
This would also give the impression of more manufacturer involvement, even if it's the same cynical approach as used by infiniti.
Of course the other benefit would be a quelling of the incessant Red Bull bleating.
Regurgitating a Joe Saward story is not the same as "hearng a rumour"
FoxHound wrote:Hearing a rumour Aston Martin could enter F1 and supply Red Bull, using rebadged Mercedes engines.
Mercedes do own 5% of AM but it's interesting that Mercedes have apparently given their blessing to the supply of a rival, which could happen as soon as next season.
This would also give the impression of more manufacturer involvement, even if it's the same cynical approach as used by infiniti.
Of course the other benefit would be a quelling of the incessant Red Bull bleating.
Regurgitating a Joe Saward story is not the same as "hearng a rumour"
Funny that, what's "hearng a rumour"?
Also, my post post precedes his story by 12 minutes.
And, I corrected the buffoon that up voted you too
Red Bull would love of bit of Mercedes, money is not a problem for them. So if the choice is free Renault engines, or 16 million euro Mercedes engines, the choice is actually very easy for them.
As to your second point, Mercedes own a minority stake in Aston Martin. They would want to expose the brand globally for no additional cost to themselves. They may actually gain more than just supply price.
They would also be seen to supply a big rival, which will be seen a sporting and in the interests of the sport(bringing red bull back from the brink).
Imagine if they could manage to tie both the Red Bull / Aston Brand image together....
Also the fact is that Red Bull are no stranger to Aston Martin / Mercedes engines in the past / other series:
If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
FoxHound wrote:Hearing a rumour Aston Martin could enter F1 and supply Red Bull, using rebadged Mercedes engines.
Mercedes do own 5% of AM but it's interesting that Mercedes have apparently given their blessing to the supply of a rival, which could happen as soon as next season.
This would also give the impression of more manufacturer involvement, even if it's the same cynical approach as used by infiniti.
Of course the other benefit would be a quelling of the incessant Red Bull bleating.
Regurgitating a Joe Saward story is not the same as "hearng a rumour"
Funny that, what's "hearng a rumour"?
Also, my post post precedes his story by 12 minutes.
And, I corrected the buffoon that up voted you too
And did you hear they had a VIP tour round a different F1 team with a view to buy 2 weeks ago.....?