Red Bull rules out supplying Aston Martin as Mekies insists engine is not for sale

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has confirmed the Milton Keynes outfit is not in serious discussions to supply Aston Martin — or any other Formula 1 team — with its power unit, dismissing reports of a potential deal at the United States Grand Prix.

Aston Martin has endured a difficult season with its Honda works power unit, and speculation had emerged that the Silverstone-based team could be exploring alternatives, including Red Bull Powertrains and Ford. Mekies acknowledged that Red Bull’s engine had attracted widespread attention after the FIA benchmarked its internal combustion unit as the class of the field, with Max Verstappen taking two victories with it this season — but he was clear that interest from rivals has not translated into anything concrete.

“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,” Mekies said. “Are we having any serious conversations with anyone to supply another team? No. We don’t feel we are ready for that.”

Mekies left the door open in the longer term, noting that circumstances could change, but stressed that Red Bull Powertrains still has significant work ahead of it. “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.”

He also pushed back on any suggestion that the engine programme has reached its ceiling. “You will struggle to find one person in RBPT that thinks that the engine is sorted. There are a thousand driveability considerations that we know we can do better, and we know we will do better.”

The integration between power unit and chassis remains central to Red Bull’s rationale for building its own engine, Mekies added. “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 team principal Mike Krack also moved to cool the speculation, reaffirming the team’s commitment to Honda ahead of the Japanese manufacturer’s 500th race weekend. “I can only say we have a partner, a long-term partner, which is Honda,” Krack said. “I think we will be together also when we win our first race together.”