Formula 1 legend Adrian Newey designing road car with Aston Martin

AUTOSPORT's sister publication, Autocar, has revealed Newey started working on the project with Aston Martin at the beginning of 2015.

This follows last Saturday's revelation that talks between Aston Martin and Red Bull could lead to the F1 team bringing the Aston Martin name back into F1 for the first time since 1960 as a brand partner in a deal that would allow the team to use the dominant Mercedes engine.

The road-car deal is a part of partnership between Aston Martin and Red Bull Technologies.

Sources close to the deal stress the partnership does not automatically mean they will work together in F1, as Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Technologies are separate entities.

Insiders describe the embryonic project as "ongoing, with no certainty of reaching fruition", but as well as using Aston Martin's road-car engineering resources, Newey is understood to have worked with the firm's design team.

The intention would be for the Aston to rival high-performance road cars such as the McLaren P1 GTR and Ferrari FXX K.

A Red Bull source indicated that a road car project is one of several efforts being investigated by Newey through Red Bull Technologies, saying it is one of many directions the firm may take.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Autocar last month that Newey was keen to pursue a road car project and that Red Bull involvement in the sector was highly likely.

"It's something that Adrian is keen to do as a legacy project," said Horner.

"At the moment our focus is on being a Formula 1 constructor, but as we see more technology cross over with the road car market, it's something that will organically grow."

Horner refused to rule out the Aston/Mercedes link when questioned over the British Grand Prix weekend, while Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff said "the door is open" to such a deal.

Mercedes customer F1 teams Force India and Williams have also emerged as potential candidates for an Aston deal.