Red Bull responds to Aston Martin F1 power unit rumours

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has confirmed that the team is not in "serious conversations" when it comes to supplying another Formula 1 team with power units. This includes Aston Martin.

The Silverstone-based team has struggled with its power unit performance all season as its works partnership with Honda has been strained. Now, there are reports of Aston Martin potentially looking elsewhere, including Red Bull and Ford.

Red Bull's powertrain this season has been a huge surprise, with the internal combustion engine being defined as the benchmark by the FIA, and it already securing two victories in the hands of Max Verstappen. It wouldn't come as a surprise to hear that customer teams across the grid would be interested in such a thing. Talking at the United States Grand Prix, Mekies admitted that there certainly is interest, but the power unit isn't for sale.

“Look, we got a lot of unwanted positive publicity about the performance of our engine and that came with certainly attention from a lot of teams,” he said.

“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 integration in the car.”

Mekies insisted nobody at Red Bull Powertrains believes the engine is finished.

“I’m smiling because you will struggle to find one person in RBPT that thinks that the engine is sorted,” he said. “There are a thousand driveability considerations that we know we can do better, and we know we will do better.”

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

He added that getting the most out of the link between engine and chassis was the main reason for Red Bull building its own unit.

“One of the main reasons you use your own power unit is to try to extract a competitive advantage from its integration, and that’s what we are all working towards.”

Aston Martin’s Mike Krack also tried to calm the idea, confirming the team's commitment to the Japanese manufacturer.

“I can only say we have a partner, 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,” he said.

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