Why Aston Martin and Red Bull were asked about an unlikely F1 engine partnership

Outubro 28, 2026 lojamais44@gmail.com

One of the most remarkable moments on Sunday in Austin did not take place on the track itself, but rather in the Formula 1 paddock after the US Grand Prix. During the usual post-race media sessions, both Aston Martin and Red Bull’s representatives were asked about a subject that had very little to do with the race at the Circuit of the Americas – quite the opposite, in fact.

Both Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer Mike Krack and Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies were asked whether they could rule out a potential partnership between the two brands in the future. It seems rather extraordinary, and both men understandably looked surprised when that question randomly came up during their media rounds, which is why the matter requires some context.

It all goes back to a BBC article and a somewhat unfortunate interpretation of it. In the regular Q&A column of F1 correspondent Andrew Benson, he was asked whether customer teams might be interested in the Red Bull Ford power unit, given that it appears to be more than competitive in its first year.

The answer made it abundantly clear that no F1 team is currently looking for a power unit and then rightly highlighted something that is widely known in the paddock: the shock at Aston Martin, particularly for team owner Lawrence Stroll, when it became apparent earlier this year just how far behind Honda was on the power unit side at the start of F1’s new era.

That understandably led to some initial doubts and considerations, although the decision was made to remain fully committed to Honda – something the BBC article also correctly emphasised. The only speculative element that left the door slightly open was the possibility that those doubts could resurface if Honda fails to make the expected step forward in, let’s say, 2027 or 2028.

As so often happens in F1 and today’s media landscape, the story subsequently took on a life of its own and became a bigger talking point than it should have been, according to several insiders. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy: something automatically becomes a topic, rightly or wrongly, if enough people in the F1 paddock are asked about it, which in turn generates coverage. It is a snowball effect, making it crucial to put such stories into perspective.

The Aston Martin perspective: Abandoning works deal potential would be extremely premature

Both Krack and Mekies were asked on Sunday evening whether they could deny that talks were taking place between Aston Martin and Red Bull Powertrains, with the implication of that question naturally going considerably further than anything suggested in the original BBC article. Krack was quick to reaffirm Aston Martin’s long-term commitment to Honda.

Shintaro Orihara, Honda Racing Corporation Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

“I can only say we have a long-term partner, which is Honda, that by the way has done its 500th race this weekend. And I think we will be together also when we win our first race together”, the Aston Martin representative said.

It is important to point out that the current partnership and works deal offer enormous potential in theory. Yes, it is true that Honda is nowhere near the desired level yet, but the Japanese manufacturer has previously demonstrated that it can turn a difficult situation around – just think of its false start with McLaren, which eventually led to multiple world titles with Red Bull.

This ties in with Adrian Newey’s comments during the FIA press conference in Austin. When asked about alleged motivation problems during the difficult years at Red Bull, he implicitly pointed to a crucial difference between the team’s engine partner at the time, Renault, and its current relationship with Honda.

“As a chassis designer, if the PU manufacturer has a bad year, that happens, and you accept it. But if the PU manufacturer has a bad year and doesn’t appear to have any intention of trying to address the problem, that’s altogether a different matter, and that’s quite bleak at that point.

“That’s the situation that unfortunately we faced in 2014. And as it turned out, that situation didn’t really change with that supplier until we changed to Honda in 2019. So, you can imagine my pain and frustration at that time.”

With Honda, however, the situation is very different. The Japanese manufacturer is acutely aware of the current shortcomings and is pulling out all the stops to turn the situation around, something Newey also highlighted.

“At Honda, there’s a lot of energy and projects on the way now that perhaps are in their early stages of development, but we see a lot of promise from those.”

Adrian Newey, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images

That says something about Honda’s determination, but also about the potential that still exists in the longer term. Aston Martin deliberately opted for a works deal, as it marks the next step in the team’s evolution.

Not only does it offer a much better opportunity to shape the partnership than would be possible as a customer team, it also brings the potential benefits of integrating the power unit more effectively into the chassis and helping each other – something both Newey and Honda have identified as a crucial priority for 2027. Both brands still fully recognise that potential, which makes abandoning a works deal highly unlikely and, moreover, an extremely short-term approach – something of a knee-jerk reaction.

The Red Bull perspective: Not yet ready to supply a customer team

All of this explains why, from Aston Martin’s perspective, it would make perfect sense to continue down the current path, give it time and eventually reap the rewards of this works partnership.

And then, of course, there is Red Bull’s side of the story. Yes, its own powertrains project in collaboration with Ford has made a considerably better start than many thought possible, but according to Mekies, that does not automatically mean the company is ready to take the step towards supplying customer teams.

“Look, we got a lot of unwanted, positive publicity about the performance of our engine and that certainly came with attention from a lot of teams”, Mekies smiled, referring to the FIA’s ADUO ranking and not receiving a development token.

“Are we having any serious conversations with anyone to supply another team? No, we don’t feel we are ready for that. Is it set in stone for the next five years? No, because I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next five years.

“But for sure for us, there is enough work 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 before we can consider being able to supply one more team on top of Racing Bulls. So nothing will change in the next year or so.”

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal

Photo by: Jayce Illman / Getty Images

One of the main reasons for a manufacturer to supply engines to a customer team is to gather more data, which can benefit development. It is one of the factors that may be hampering Honda, given that it supplies just one team and was able to collect very little data during winter testing and the opening races because of all the reliability problems.

For Red Bull, however, that is not an immediate incentive to take on a customer team, as it already has one in the form of its sister team Racing Bulls. The Milton Keynes-based manufacturer already supplies two teams and therefore has four cars from which to gather data.

All of this means that, from both Aston Martin’s and Red Bull’s perspectives, such a partnership is certainly not an obvious option at present. It is crucial to view the recent speculation in that light – in other words, in the right context. It is understandable that much will depend on Honda’s development over the coming years, but for now, this is another example of something that frequently characterises the F1 paddock and today’s media landscape: a storm in a teacup.