Red Bull confirms Aston Martin title partnership

Red Bull has confirmed a title sponsorship deal that will see the team named Aston Martin Red Bull Racing from next season.

The two companies entered into partnership last year to create the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar, which received significant input from Adrian Newey. Following on from that initial project, Red Bull has continued to work with the iconic British car brand and will now carry its name from 2018 onward as the pair establish a new "Advanced Performance Centre" on the site of Red Bull's headquarters in Milton Keynes.

"Our Innovation Partnership with Aston Martin has been a pioneering project from day one," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. "Having conceived and created the remarkably successful Aston Martin Valkyrie together in 2016, we extended our relationship this year and are now delighted to further strengthen the partnership and see the team competing as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing in 2018.

"In addition, more than 100 Aston Martin staff will service the new Advanced Performance Centre on our campus here in Milton Keynes and it will allow us to collaborate further with Aston Martin on special, equally innovative, new projects."

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Aston Martin has been linked with a future power unit supply for Red Bull, and while it currently has no plans to build F1 engines in-house, president and CEO Andy Palmer admitted there is interest in doing so in future.

"Title partnership is the next logical step for our Innovation Partnership with Red Bull Racing," Palmer said. "We are enjoying the global brand awareness that a revitalized Formula One provides.

"The power unit discussions (in Formula 1) are of interest to us, but only if the circumstances are right. We are not about to enter an engine war with no restrictions in cost or dynamometer hours but we believe that if the FIA can create the right environment we would be interested in getting involved."

It is understood Renault has told Red Bull it will not be open to extending its power unit supply contract beyond the end of the 2018 season, with Toro Rosso having recently switched to Honda and the French manufacturer agreeing a deal to supply McLaren for the next three seasons.

This story has been edited for clarity since publication. It originally read that Aston Martin does not produce its own engines; this has been amended to state that Aston Martin has no current plans to produce its own F1 engine.