The new Formula One season is finally upon us. Every year around this time we hear promises that the forthcoming series will be the ‘most exciting’ in years, that the championship is going to be ‘wide open’ and that we will see real racing and even, gasp, overtaking. With Michael Schumacher no longer lining up on the grid, it will be interesting to see who steps forward to dominate the season. Even when he wasn’t winning, Schumacher’s brilliance at reading and controlling his race made watching him a pure joy. In my mind, a classic 2007 will be if we get to the end and find we haven’t missed him, but I have my doubts.

It has been over 40 years since Aston Martin contested a grand prix, but observers were speculating this week that this might be about to change, when the announcement was made that the iconic sports car manufacturer had been sold to a consortium that included Dave Richards, former team principal of BAR and Benetton F1 teams. This sale is the result of Ford's decision to explore strategic options for the Aston Martin business as the company restructures its automotive operations. Valuing Aston Martin at £479 million, Ford will retain a £40 million investment in the company. As well as Richards, who will take up a position as a non-executive chairman, other members of the consortium include John Sinders, an avid Aston Martin collector and a backer of Aston Martin Racing, and Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co, an international investment company headquartered in Kuwait.

Charismatic and passionate about cars, Dave Richards has had a consistently successful pedigree in business, Formula One and the World Rally Championships. His involvement in Aston Martin can only be a good thing. What plans there are for the company are still to be announced, with the new DBS model due shortly, but Aston Martin will remain at its high tech production facility at Gaydon in Warwickshire, a purpose-built facility where a skilled workforce of 1800 employees have helped gather numerous awards from the automotive and design industries in the past five years.

An interesting fact is that last year Richards secured the twelfth entry slot for the Formula One 2008 season for his Prodrive team. Some people now wonder if it will only be a matter of time before we see a re-badged Prodrive team take to the grid under the Aston Martin moniker. With a race pedigree that stretches back almost a hundred years, the return to Grand Prix racing could be a shrewd move for a company that many see as the jewel in the crown of sports car manufacturers. Richards was quick to deny these rumours, but in the smoke and mirrors world of Formula One politics it pays to keep your cards close to your chest until the time is right.

Certainly the infrastructure to go racing is there - Ford previously viewed Aston Martin as an on the road laboratory for new technologies, incorporating design and technical innovations from the now defunct Jaguar Formula One team into the cars, before filtering them down to road cars. Aston Martin Racing compete in the GT sports car series and race in the Le Mans 24 Hour race - the pull of competing at the pinnacle of motor sport might prove a strong attraction for the new owners. If there are plans to race it might pay to wait a couple of years before taking to the grid, giving Richards’ Prodrive team the time to get their car right – the potential ignominy of seeing an Aston Martin badged car trailing around at the back of the grid would be devastating.

But whatever happens, we should thank Ford for selling a healthy and exciting company to a consortium that loves cars, loves racing and hopefully will continue to produce great, classic vehicles for years to come.

Explore Driving

• Jeremy Clarkson

• New Car Reviews

• Used Car Reviews

• News

• Features

• In The Showroom

• Buying Guide

• Car Clinic