“We would like to work with that partnership,” Cosworth chief Bruce Wood told Autosport. “Aston have been very clear that they want to be doing something more than just badging someone else’s engine. They also don’t aspire to designing it all themselves, so there’s a natural fit there and certainly that’s where some of those discussions are happening.”
Cosworth, for those unfamiliar, is a British engineering firm with a long and proud history in Formula One. It first hit the grid in 1963, and remained a constant fixture in the series through 2006. Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher and others all won championships under Cosworth power, supplied to teams including Lotus, Williams, and McLaren.
That was back in the day when the engines were rebranded by Ford. Cosworth disappeared for a few seasons between 2007 and 2009, only to return again in 2010 through 2013. But it’s struggled to justify the enormous costs involved in designing and building an F1 powertrain package ever since.
“We’ve done a lot of work with Aston for many years, we’re working very closely with Red Bull and the team for the Valkyrie, so there’s a certain logic to it,” noted Wood. “As companies, we’ve all grown up competing with one another in many respects, but I think we all recognise it’s probably in everyone’s interests and probably no single individual is going to be able to do it on their own.”
Formula One is currently working on a new set of rules to take effect in 2021, but it would likely take longer than that for Aston and Cosworth to launch their engine package – which could also involve Ilmor, once a partner in what is now Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.
With Red Bull dissatisfied with the engine options available to it, we could see an Aston/Cosworth-powered RBR entry on the grid as soon as 2022 – just four years from now.
