Cosworth, a company deeply associated with the history of F1, would be open to a partnership with Aston Martin in the future as both companies keep an eye on the sport's 2021 engine rules.
Aston Martin has upped its investment in Red Bull Racing this year, becoming the team's title sponsor, and CEO Andy Palmer says he is pondering the idea of becoming an independent engine supplier from 2021, but he also said the iconic car manufacturer can't do it on its own.
Enter therefore Cosworth, whose boss Bruce Wood believes his company could be the technical partner Aston Martin may be looking for. The two companies have even held preliminary talks although it's still early days as F1 has yet to finalise its future engine platform.
"We would like to work with that partnership," Wood told Motorsport.com.
"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 [hypercar], so there's a certain logic to it.
"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.
"Aston and Red Bull have a very strong relationship, so there's definitely a desire to do something together there."
While an involvement once again in F1 is enticing to Cosworth, Wood insists the company won't put itself in harm's way to achieve it. And if it did get involved, a presence on the grid in 2022 appears to be a more realistic target than 2021.
"Obviously Cosworth is completely independent and we need to be profitable as our number one tenant," Wood added.
"It isn't like when we were owned by Ford as a cost centre to put Jaguar on the F1 grid. Anything has to be profitable and certainly that is easier to do if you're sharing those costs with someone else.
"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."
"Our view is it would be a huge investment for whoever was going to do it and it probably isn't realistic to get everything in place for 2021.
"But that doesn't make us think we should forget it. It just makes us think about how 2022 would work."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
