Autocar - First for car news and reviews

Aston Martin is to enter F1 from 2012 as a fully-fledged manufacturer entrant, following to a deal agreed with Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 rights holder, last night.

The Gaydon-based sportscar manufacturer, which had an abortive foray into F1 in the late 1950s and early 1960s, will put its name to a new F1 team to be launched next year by Banbury-based preparations experts Prodrive.

The team will run in F1 from 2010 as Prodrive, before rebranding as Aston Martin in 2012. Before its f...Read the full article

I'm not sure there will be an F1 in 2012!  If I were Aston, I would have waited another 24 hours before releasing this.

From what I've heard this is just a Prodrive F1 car bearing an Aston Martin badge. Is this true?

Is it being formed as a separate company in he same way as the lmp1 car is, therefore not putting the road car viabiliy at risk?

Prodrive has been racing Aston Martins so it would be the same for the F1 car except its entrance would be more conservative runnning Prodrive first then Aston Martin. No better to have an F1 entrant who is a sports car brand.

Why bother?

Participating in F1 is not going to improve their road cars. They should spend the money on R&D and design (especially on interior design) instead.

If Aston Martin has to go into F1, please don't use that emotional control unit car key (or whatever it's called). It's a joke and I'm sure their cars will stall on the grid every race.

Driving:

Prodrive has been racing Aston Martins so it would be the same for the F1 car except its entrance would be more conservative runnning Prodrive first then Aston Martin. No better to have an F1 entrant who is a sports car brand.

Sorry, didn't understand a word of that.

Or....an Aston Martin car wearing a Prodrive badge for 2 years! If it all goes wrong, then the Aston name is not tarnished! Good luck I say, and I hope they do well. Hopefully MB engines and Jenson Button from 2011 onwards?

skodafan:

Hopefully MB engines and Jenson Button from 2011 onwards?

 

 

Somehow I think Jenson Button will stay right where he is having waited long enough for a good car.