Aston Martin debuted a series of updates to its AMR22 in the first free practice sessions of the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday, where design similarities with the Red Bull RB18 could be seen.
The FIA confirmed that they had investigated the matter due to the similarities between one car and another, but the international federation did not impose any sanctions on the Silverstone team, explaining that all the new parts and their processes complied with the regulations.
The passage of information between one team and another is something that is prohibited in Formula 1 and, in fact, the British structure starred in a notorious episode in 2020, when various teams accused Racing Point of presenting a car very similar to the Mercedes of 2019, which swept the world.
Red Bull issued a public statement in response to the FIA ‘s comments, saying they had “noted the federation’s statement with interest”.
“While imitation is the highest form of flattery, any replica of the design would obviously have to comply with the FIA’s rules on ‘reverse engineering’,” the Milton Keynes outfit said.
“However, if any transfer of intellectual property were to take place, this would clearly be a breach of regulations, and would be a serious problem,” the Austrians added.
Comparisons between the two cars in the Barcelona pitlane have caused the AMR22 to be dubbed “Green Red Bull”. During the first free practices of the Spanish Grand Prix, all the members of the team’s wall of energy drinks sat with a can of their ‘green edition’ flavor brand in a mocking tone.
As part of their recruitment drive since the switch to Aston Martin, the English have hired a number of people who held senior positions in the paddock, such as former Red Bull aerodynamics chief Dan Fallows .
The dispute between the two teams over the engineer’s contract was resolved in January, when it was agreed that his time as technical director at Silverstone would start in early April.
Speaking to Sky Germany , the Austrian team’s adviser, Helmut Marko , said it was important to “clarify how this incredible copy” of the RB18 was arrived at: “As things stand, copying is not prohibited, but you have to have Bear in mind that seven people have been robbed from us, and that our head of aerodynamics went to Aston Martin on a disproportionately high salary.”
“There are still some things that we are checking, we will investigate it in detail,” said Marko, who went on to explain that “it is not only Dan Fallows” the reason for this renewed AMR22, and stated that “there is evidence that data was downloaded”.
“Dan Fallows was on leave due to ‘ gardering ‘ (a term that refers to when an engineer signs for another team and cannot start work so as not to pass on direct information), something that makes sense,” he said. “Copying is not prohibited on theory, but can you make a detailed copy of our car without documents?”
Following the statement from the international federation, an Aston Martin spokesman said: “We have shared the details of our update with the FIA technicians.”
“After analyzing our data and processes, they have confirmed in writing that our modification was generated as a result of legitimate and independent work in accordance with the technical regulation.”
