No new title partner after Red Bull ends Aston relationship - Christian Horner

Red Bull

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No new title partner after Red Bull ends Aston relationship - Horner

Red Bull left with sponsor finance deficit for 2021

Will Gray

Sunday 20 December 2020 09:59

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has revealed the outfit will be left without a title sponsor for 2021 after its relationship with Aston Martin concluded at the end of the 2020 season.

Aston Martin’s deal with Red Bull was estimated to be worth £40million, according to sports market intelligence company Sportcal, and it appears the current climate has made it impossible to replace.

Horner confirmed: “We will have new sponsors that we will introduce into next year. [But] We don’t have a title sponsor replacing Aston Martin for next year.”

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The two companies first collaborated on the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar in 2016, a project that saw involvement from Red Bull chief designer Adrian Newey and led to a 150-car production run.

The car manufacturer became Red Bull’s title sponsor in 2018 and established an Aston Martin ‘Advanced Performance Centre’ at the team’s Milton Keynes base, but the company did not commit to supplying engines.

At the time, the then Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said an agreement to do so in future was “of interest, but only if the circumstances are right”. That direction changed when Lawrence Stroll took over the car company in January this year.

Canadian billionaire Stroll, who already owned Racing Point, has naturally moved the manufacturer's F1 involvement in that direction and will re-brand the team as Aston Martin for 2021, with the promise of significant investment.

Ironically, the decision of Red Bull’s current power unit supplier Honda to pull out of F1 from the end of 2021, and the subsequent need for an engine or at least a partner to brand the existing units, means the story is a case of what might have been.

Horner added: “We’ve enjoyed four years, three years’ title and four years with them on the car, we’ve helped to push the brand, we’ve obviously enjoyed a great relationship with Valkyrie

“Our deals were constructed under the former CEO Andy Palmer, who was always tremendously supportive of the team, and with Lawrence buying the business then it was obviously natural for them to exit.”

Horner confirmed the Valkyrie project would run to its natural conclusion and said: “The car is running, doing all the testing, and of course the relationship goes until all the cars are completed, through Red Bull Advanced Technologies.”