Aston Martin has begun work on developing an engine based on the 2021 Formula 1 proposals set out by the FIA and Liberty Media last month, CEO Andy Palmer has confirmed.
The famous British luxury carmaker has been increasing its presence in the sport in recent years joining Red Bull as a partner and will be the title sponsor from 2018 as part of closer co-operation between the two parties.
Palmer has made it clear Aston would be open to becoming a full engine supplier in F1 but only if the regulations suited them and with the expansion of his team including two former Ferrari F1 staff, current Head of Powertrain Joerg Ross and recently hired Luca Marmorini, it appears the company like what it sees.
“I’ve engaged Luca full-time now to help us with developing the concept engine,” he revealed to Motorsport.com. “I’ve got Joerg Ross, he’s already working for me on our internal engine development and is ex Ferrari Formula 1. He will work on the F1 project.
“So I’ve got two good people now to start thinking about our concept, Luca started his concept thoughts just last week so it’s fairly early days,” he said. “But he’s a good guy to have onboard and lucid about who he thinks we should work with, who we could work with, from his experience what didn’t work so that will save us time.”
The proposals put forward for 2021 have been met with threats to quit F1 both by Ferrari and more recently Mercedes, but, commenting on the backlash, the Aston Martin boss admits surprise at their response based on the talks held this year.
“I’m surprised they have been as vociferous as they have been because I think it was pretty well signaled within those meetings,” Palmer claimed.
“I don’t know whether they fane surprise but I don’t think it was a huge surprise as in those meetings, you had the incumbents and you had the challengers and the challengers and the incumbents are aligned.
“Everyone around the room accepted that the sport is broken and we need to bring back the entertainment. The entertainment is about drivers racing, it’s not about the heat recovery on an engine.”
