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Giuseppe F1
29th May 2009, 11:35
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090529084716.shtml

David Richards set for 2010 F1 entry
New team to feature Aston Martin branding

David Richards' Banbury-based outfit is set to make its Formula One debut next year.

The team, expected to link up technically with McLaren Mercedes, will initially enter the world championship as Prodrive, before becoming Aston Martin by 2012.

It is believed Richards, formerly team boss at Benetton and BAR, committed to lodging his official paperwork by Friday's deadline after discussions with Bernie Ecclestone that lasted until late Wednesday night.

It was on Wednesday that the FIA rules finally became clear (pending official confirmation), following a compromise deal amid the existing teams' standoff with the sport's ruling bodies.
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Next year, the budget cap will be €100m, with special concessions such as cheap components offered to small teams, before the figure shrinks to €45m in 2011.

"The cars will be built at Banbury and have Aston Martin-badged customer engines obtained from a supplier," Richards confirmed to Autocar.

Among the backers is Aston Martin's majority owner Investment Dar, a Kuwaiti shareholding company, and another Middle Eastern interest.

Source: GMM
© CAPSIS International


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http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21517.html

MAY 29, 2009
Aston Martin to enter F1 in 2012

Aston Martin is to enter F1 from 2012 as a fully-fledged manufacturer entrant, according to a report in Autocar magazine. The company will put its name on a new F1 team to be launched by Prodrive. The new F1 team announced will run as Prodrive in 2010, before being rebranding as Aston Martin in 2012. Aston Martin’s Prodrive-run sportscar racing programmes will continue. It is expected that the Prodrive team will get much assistance from McLaren Racing and will almost certainly use Mercedes-Benz engines. The cars will be built at Prodrive's Banbury factory. The team is understood to have picked up two big sponsors in the Middle East.

Aston Martin will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1913 and it has long had an association with racing, dating back to the 1920s when Count Louis Zborowski, a wealthy British-based American racing driver, was a supporter of the firm. Zborowski was killed at Monza in 1924, driving a Mercedes, but the racing tradition continued under the patronage of Augustus Bertelli,a although the emphasis switched to sports cars. It was only after World War II that Aston Martin's sporting history really took off, following the purchase of the company and its merger with Lagonda to form Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd, under the guidance of David Brown. The company entered and won the Spa 24 Hours in 1948 and appeared at Le Mans in 1949. Throughout the 1950s Aston Martin would battle for victory in the classic French race but it was not until 1959 that the team scored an historic 1-2 finish with Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby leading home Maurice Trintignant and Paul Frere.

In 1959 Brown decided to enter Grand Prix racing again with the Ted Cutting-designed DBR4/250 being built at the Aston Martin factory in Feltham. Unfortunately, the car was an obsolete front-engined model and Salvadori and Shelby struggled to be competitive, although Salvadori's second place on the car's debut in the International Trophy was promising.

The cars were redesigned for 1960 and Salvadori was joined by Maurice Trintignant but performance did not improve and the company gave up F1 at the end of the year.

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Giuseppe F1
29th May 2009, 11:45
So by the looks of it, Mercedes will be supplying FOUR teams with engines in 2010?

- McLaren
- Brawn
- Force India
- Prodrive/Aston Martin (TBC)

I thought teams could only supply 2 teams with engines and that Mercedes were given dispensation for this season to supply 3 teams??

Maybe as part of the new FOTA/FIA 'compromises' this rule has been relaxed?


Also, it seems that, as was the original intention with Dave Richards/Prodrive when they were going to enter F1 a few years ago, it still seems the idea is that the team will receive 'strong technical assistance' from both McLaren and Mercedes......

.......I wonder how this will affect Force India's 'special relationship' with McLaren/Mercedes?

Also, I sincerely hope, that as again what was the original intention, that this will result in Gary Paffett FINALLY getting an F1 race seat!

Pedro de la Rosa has had his shot IMO and Gary should be ahead in the queue of Paul Di Resta...

....Also, please, please, please......GULF livery! :)

Sonic
29th May 2009, 12:00
I've said it before and no doubt I'll still be saying it 12 months down the line; Aston and F1 go together about as well as oil and water. Aston's return to le mans is exactly the right thing for the brand, but f1 is a step in the wrong direction IMO. Seeing a the name Aston martin and associating it with a mid grid f1 team can't do the brand any favours. Jaguar take two anyone?

That said I'm pleased to see DR back, but just keep it as prodrive f1.

Giuseppe F1
29th May 2009, 13:33
I guess this means that in the way Red Bull have promoted Star Wars and Superman movies on their cars and more recently, Brawn promoting the new Terminator flick, all future James Bond 007 films may have some kind of promotional tie in with the Prodrive F1 team because of the Aston link :)

I am evil Homer
29th May 2009, 13:41
I agree that Aston Martin is sportscars not F1...

That aside why are people assuming it will be a Merc engine? That deal may well have gone now they supply BrawnGP, an arrangement I think both parties will want to continue next season at least.

Oh and Paul DiResta is better than Paffett :D

Sleeper
29th May 2009, 15:08
ITV-f1's website are reporting that Prodrives official statement makes no mention of Aston Martin, just that he's got a lot of money out of Kuwait.

V12
29th May 2009, 16:53
Surely an Aston Martin entry would only make sense if it had an Aston Martin engine? Whether an in-house design or (more likely) a "badged" Cosworth or whatever?

I agree it's better to keep AM in sportscars for now, although they do have F1 pedigree. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aston_Martin_DBR4)

Sonic
29th May 2009, 19:19
Having "raced" a weak effort in f1 does not provide a pedigree.

christophulus
29th May 2009, 20:34
I've said it before and no doubt I'll still be saying it 12 months down the line; Aston and F1 go together about as well as oil and water. Aston's return to le mans is exactly the right thing for the brand, but f1 is a step in the wrong direction IMO. Seeing a the name Aston martin and associating it with a mid grid f1 team can't do the brand any favours. Jaguar take two anyone?

That said I'm pleased to see DR back, but just keep it as prodrive f1.

Makes perfect sense from Aston Martin. Keep it as Prodrive for the first two years, and if it becomes a success slap the Aston Martin name all over it. If it fails they can keep their distance.

V12
29th May 2009, 21:32
Having "raced" a weak effort in f1 does not provide a pedigree.

Wrong word I guess - basically they've done F1 before - unlike Jaguar when they entered (if you don't count Biondetti's Ferrari-Jag hybrid thing)

Knock-on
1st June 2009, 14:29
Makes perfect sense from Aston Martin. Keep it as Prodrive for the first two years, and if it becomes a success slap the Aston Martin name all over it. If it fails they can keep their distance.

I might be getting cynical in my old age but that was what I thought as well.

1st June 2009, 16:53
Makes perfect sense from Aston Martin. Keep it as Prodrive for the first two years, and if it becomes a success slap the Aston Martin name all over it. If it fails they can keep their distance.


I might be getting cynical in my old age but that was what I thought as well.

I agree it's canny on paper, but I seem to recall somebody had a similar idea not too long ago....like Ford did with Stewart morphing into Jaguar.

V12
1st June 2009, 17:30
I agree it's canny on paper, but I seem to recall somebody had a similar idea not too long ago....like Ford did with Stewart morphing into Jaguar.

IMO if they'd just renamed it Jaguar but kept the existing management structure in place, there's no reason why they couldn't have kept up Stewart's good late 1999 form. Their problem was the layers of corporate (mis-)management that they introduced into what had been developing into a very well organised and nimble racing outfit. Although admittedly their hand was forced somewhat by JYS stepping down voluntarily.

You get the feeling with this that whether it's called "Prodrive" or "Aston Martin", it's going to be DR and Prodrive calling the shots.