London (AFP)
Aston Martin solo. The British luxury car manufacturer will give its name to its own Formula 1 team from 2021 onwards, taking over from Racing Point, whose owner will acquire a stake in the company founded in 1913.
Title sponsor of Red Bull since 2018, with the key to two third places in the constructors' world championship, the luxury car manufacturer dear to James Bond will launch in his own name in the Grands Prix from 2021.
Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, who made his fortune in fashion, will invest £ 182 million (around 200 million euros) in Aston Martin, as part of the group's capital increase, in need of new money .
Consequence: his Racing Point team, 7th in the last World Championship, will be absorbed by Aston Martin who will give him his name from the 2021 season.
Racing Point is currently powered by Mercedes while Honda has been supplying an engine to the Red Bull team since early 2019.
Lawrence Stroll, an F1 enthusiast - he owns the Mont-Tremblant circuit in Canada in particular - and whose fortune is estimated by Forbes to be $ 2.6 billion (around 2.4 billion euros), had come in plain- found a foothold in motorsport in 2018, by buying the bankruptcy Force India, renamed soon after.
Her son Lance, 21, joined her soon after as an official pilot, alongside Mexican Sergio Pérez.
Aston Martin will remain the title sponsor of Red Bull until the end of the 2020 season. His future ex-partner, who confirmed in the process that he had terminated the exclusivity clause which previously linked him to Aston Martin, did did not specify immediately where his steps were in the search for a new title sponsor.
But the bridges are not completely cut: Red Bull and Aston Martin will continue to work together, to develop the model of the hyper-sports car "Valkyrie", which was supposed to be ready for the 24 hours of Le Mans 2021, which it must compete in the new queen endurance category, Le Mans Hypercar.
"Red Bull Advanced Technologies will continue to work with Aston Martin on the Valkyrie project", which "remains a key project for Red Bull," the team said in a statement.
Red Bull, four-time world constructors champion (from 2010 to 2013, with German Sebastian Vettel) since its creation in 2005, has finished 3rd in the constructors' championship in the last three seasons behind Mercedes and Ferrari, thanks in particular to its driver -vedette, the Dutchman Max Verstappen, 3rd in the drivers' championship in 2019.
Aston Martin had entered a F1 car for a few races in 1959 and 1960 on behalf of the David Brown team, without much success, before shining in the world endurance championship.
© 2020 AFP