Laurent Mekies denies any talks with Aston Martin about supplying power units to the F1 team, which is running out of patience with Honda.
As Honda continues to struggle and find ways to improve its power unit performance to help Aston Martin fight in the F1 races, BBC Sport predicted a switch for the Silverstone-based team from the Japanese manufacturer to Red Bull Powertrains.
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The move, it says, is likely from the 2028 F1 season. However, Red Bull team principal Mekies has denied any conversations with representatives of Aston Martin. Even though the Red Bull Ford power unit has made headlines, he feels they are not ready yet.
It is a brand-new facility in Milton Keynes, and they already have their work cut out for them with sister team Racing Bulls. They have four cars to cater for, which makes it impossible at this juncture to become a supplier to a third F1 team.
Mekies Answers if Red Bull Can Provide Power Unit to Other Teams
But Mekies is not ruling out anything for say in the next five years, which is unknown at the moment. “Look, 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,” he said to the media after the F1 US GP.
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“Are we having any serious conversations with anyone to supply another team? No. We don’t feel we are ready for that. 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.
“To get to the level of the best competition before, to consider being able to supply one more team on top of Racing Bulls. So, nothing will change in the next years,” summed up Mekies, as they achieved a huge milestone with their Red Bull Ford powertrain, to secure an F1 win in their first year as power unit manufacturer.
(Photo by Joe Portlock/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610110380 // Usage for editorial use only //
Krack Responds to Latest Rumours
When asked, Aston Martin trackside head Krack reiterated support for Honda and noted that they will be together when they score their first F1 victory. “I can only say we have a partner, a long-term partner, which is Honda, that, by the way, has done its 500th race this weekend, and I think we will be together also when we win our first race together,” he said.
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Despite the two ADUO updates in the ongoing 2026 F1 season, Honda is still not on top of the power deficit. They know the internal combustion engine is lacking on their part. They have a plan in motion to improve throughout the course of the 2027 season.
The integration aspect of Aston Martin and Honda has come into question. At the same time, the integration of the Red Bull power unit with the chassis has been top-notch from the outside. But Mekies doesn’t think that the power unit is the best yet.
Mekies Says Red Bull Ford PU Still Not Sorted
(Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202610230449 // Usage for editorial use only //
They are still working on improvements to the power unit, just like the chassis. He doesn’t think that their power unit is fully sorted yet. “I’m smiling because you will struggle to find one person in RBPT that thinks that the engine is sorted,” said Mekies.
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“So, the best representation is that…no, I’m not going to do the joke, but anyway, we have massive improvements that we are trying to bring on all the aspects of the power unit in the exact same way that we try to bring them on all the aspects of the chassis, except the first year, and we talked about launches earlier.
“There are a thousand drivability considerations that we know we can do better, and we know we will do better. So, it’s nothing like the engine is sorted; let’s concentrate on the chassis. It’s really integration work. 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,” summed up Mekies.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
