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Aston Martin’s new owner rules out F1

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709 views Mar 14, 2007

Aston Martin’s new owner rules out F1

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It’s well documented that Prodrive, the company responsible for Aston Martin’s racing program will start competing in Formula One next year with its own team, and now that its boss, David Richards, is the owner and non-executive Chairman of Aston Martin, it’s only logical to conclude that together the two companies would form an Aston Martin F1 team. Sadly, Richards has come out stating that Prodrive's F1 program and the interests of Aston Martin are separate.

Richards told reporters from BBC Sport that Prodrive has already determined that it’d be best to approach an existing F1 team over a deal to buy its cars, which would most likely be McLaren. He added that "there is a long way to go before an involvement in F1 could benefit the Aston Martin brand." Richards, who previously ran the Benetton and BAR-Honda F1 teams, sees the potential for serious damage to the Aston label if it were to enter F1 and get it wrong.

Richards admits that every decision has to be fully reviewed, but claims there are two major factors against Aston Martin entering F1. "Firstly, we consider at Prodrive that our route to be competitive in F1 is to partner an existing team - frankly, I don't have the patience to set up a team from scratch and flog around at the back of the grid for five years, and as far as Aston Martin is concerned, it is a product that is still in its infancy. It is still developing as a brand.”

Via: MotorPasion