Force India won't rebrand as Aston Martin for 2016, but talks not over

Force India's Otmar Szafnauer has confirmed the team will not be rebranded as Aston Martin for the 2016 season, although talks with the British carmarker over a potential tie-up in the future continue.

Sky News revealed in December that Aston Martin's shareholders were poised to end their interest in a tie-up with the F1 team for this year which would have seen the brand return to the sport for the first time since 1960.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 stage at the Autosport International show, Szafnauer, Force India's chief operating officer, admitted a deal would now not happen for this year, although it could be revisited in the future.

"It was flattering to have the serious discussions with Aston Martin and it's a big decision for them to enter the sport and also to partner with Force India," he said.

"The talks are still ongoing. I can't foresee it for 2016, but you don't know what the future holds. The door isn't shut on that but for 2016 we'll remain Force India."

The Vijay Mallya-owned squad enjoyed their best season to date in 2015 as they finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship - despite not introducing their full car until July.

From the summer break onwards, Force India were outscored by only Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams and also returned to the podium at the Russian GP.

After cash-flow issues last winter, Szafnauer is confident they will be able to be competitive from the first race this year.

"If all goes well, we should start where we left off in 2015. We finished the season in a strong position and our aim over the winter is to maintain our competitiveness at that level," he said.

"The regulations haven't changed drastically, a little bit here and there, so we're maintaining the same development path that we've been on and hopefully we've done a bit better job with the budgets over the winter so there won't be a B-spec in the middle of the year and we can come out fighting at the first race."

Sergio Perez's third-place finish Sochi was just the third podium finish in Force India's eight-year history and Szafnauer says the target is to add to that haul more than once in 2016.

"We've had a few podiums and if we can do that multiple times then the points will come too and we'll have a good chance of staying fifth or even looking at fourth," he added.