How close is Aston Martin to a Formula One (re)entry?

Luxury sport car manufacturer Aston Martin has been existing on the fringes of Formula One for quite some time now. 

First Porsche, and now Aston Martin? Oh my, Formula One seems to be doing something right to stir the hearts of the manufacturers. Call it an effect of osmosis, but the British luxury sporting car company is possibly positioning itself for a potential entry into the illustrious series for the 2021 season.

Part Three – @danielricciardo vs @darrenturner007.

Can Darren level the score in the #F1 simulator?@redbullracing @AMR_Official pic.twitter.com/YS4kfqwpuc

— Aston Martin (@astonmartin) July 16, 2017

With its longstanding reputation, instant brand awareness, and prototypical testbed, Formula One is undoubtedly a tantalising sport to many manufacturers–but it’s incredibly high operating costs are not. Ever the last series in the world to offer parity to its constructors, Formula One has borne the reputation of being a cutthroat environment where funds are valued above all. However, should that change… there could be a very interesting landscape forming in Formula One.

The British company currently fields a presence in F1, albeit one of small stature as Red Bull Racing’s sponsor. The fraternity does extend, however, to their collaboration with Adrian Newey on their Valkyrie project. Despite this, the largest conditional that Aston Martin’s participation rests on is indeed the ludicrous amounts of money that are required to be funneled in by the teams–and with no cap to revenue, it’s no wonder the sport has had clearly-defined lines between the front men and the rest of the pack for decades now.

Aston Martin’s CEO, Andy Palmer, broke down the companies situation and future hopes:

“We sit on the periphery of F1, with the Valkyrie, and with Red Bull.

There’s always that question, would you want to enter as a team? Our major competitor is Ferrari, so in that sense there’s a rationale in being involved in some way.

But for a company that’s only just moved to making a profit we don’t have the 350-400 million a year that you have to spend on F1.

If–and it really is the big if–there is a cap put on the number of people or the amount of money that you can spend on developing a new engine, and it’s at a reasonable level, we have a good reason to study it.

At the moment, there are lots of opinions, and it’s still morphing into whatever the final idea will be.” – Andy Palmer

In the Driving Seat: Aston Martin CEO @AndyatAston reveals the story behind his passion for cars in #AMmagazine: https://t.co/Vv677Km0ag pic.twitter.com/skKqS5q0iy

— Aston Martin (@astonmartin) July 22, 2017

It’s tempting to say that the addition of Aston Martin would have a positive effect on the sport, but with the way that the budgeting has been–and is being–handled, it’s becoming increasingly tough to say. New owners Liberty Media have made comments regarding their plans for levelling the playing field in the sport, but there haven’t been any solid moves as of yet, perhaps they’re still coming up with a formula to avoid hissy-fits being thrown by the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari.