Aston Martin is unlikely to switch to Red Bull Ford power units in the near future if Honda leaves Formula 1. Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies says Red Bull Powertrains has no current plans to supply engines to an external team.
GPblog reported on Sunday that Red Bull Ford Powertrains has no plans for the time being to supply engines to a third Formula 1 team in addition to Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls. The team wants to focus on developing its own power unit and supplying its two existing teams. Taking on a customer team would require additional staff and resources.
That has not stopped a British media outlet from suggesting that Red Bull Ford could supply engines to Aston Martin if Honda decided to leave Formula 1. The Japanese manufacturer is currently struggling to build a competitive power unit.
Mekies confirms interest in Red Bull Ford
Without naming Aston Martin, Mekies did not deny in Austin that other teams are interested in Red Bull Ford’s power unit. Its excellent performance has attracted considerable interest. "We got a lot of unwanted positive publicity about the performance of our engine. And that has come with certainly attention from a lot of teams,"Mekies said. "Are we having serious discussions with anyone about supplying engines to another team? No. We don’t feel we’re ready for that."
At the same time, the team principal is not ruling out the possibility that Aston Martin or another team could turn to Red Bull in the distant future and find success. "Is that set in stone for the next five years? No, because I don’t know what will happen over the next five years."
Red Bull wants to improve its own engine first
According to Mekies, Red Bull Ford has enough work on its hands for now developing its own power unit. Although Verstappen has already scored victories with the new engine, the team principal believes there is still a gap to Mercedes to close.
"There is enough work to do on our side to improve the power unit, to improve its integrations in the car and to get at the level of the best competitors. Only after that can we consider supplying engines to an additional team alongside Racing Bulls."
So Mekies’s conclusion is: "Nothing will change in the next year or so."