Aston Martin condemn Red Bull as copying storm rages on

Ewan Gale
Saturday 21 May 2022 11:22 - Updated: 12:09

Aston Martin chief technical officer Andrew Green has defended the new AMR22 concept and described Red Bull's accusations of IP transfer as "very wide of the mark".

The Silverstone-based team has introduced upgrades for the Spanish Grand Prix that resemble an almost completely different car, with aggressively undercut sidepods and new floor, both of which largely resemble the RB18 that has won three of the first five races.

The FIA investigated a potential breach of reverse engineering regulations, where teams would take photographs of designs and translate these into CAD models, but declared the design legal.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, however, revealed an internal investigation would be commenced after suggesting data had been downloaded and a potential transfer of information had taken place.

Dr Helmut Marko went a step further to suggest the team had evidence of wrongdoing.

The matter has been heightened by the influx of Red Bull staff into the rapidly growing Aston Martin team, not least Dan Fallows, who left his role as aerodynamics chief in Milton Keynes to join his new team as technical director last month.

"I don't know what these accusations are that Red Bull are pinging about. All I can say is that at no stage did we ever receive any data from any team," insisted Green.

"The FIA came in and did a thorough investigation, examined all the data leading up in the history of this car, they interviewed all the people involved and concluded that this was completely independent development."

On the possibility of former Red Bull employees factoring into the closeness of design, Green explained: "This car was conceived in the middle of last year as a dual-route with the launch car.

"The majority of the releases were made before anybody from Red Bull even turned up, so I think any accusations are very wide of the mark."

Aston Martin disappointed with FIA

The matter was raised after the FIA released a document highlighting the investigation had taken place after seeing the similarities between the two cars when the AMR22 broke cover. Red Bull was then alerted by the governing body.

Asked if he was surprised by the publicity of the statements and investigations from both parties, Green replied: "Disappointed, especially with the fact that the FIA has made a statement with respect to the car.

"They have come in and looked and declared that it is legitimate and independent work.

"They are the ones who see all the data, not just from us but all the teams so they really are the only ones that can make the judgement and by regulation, they are obliged to make judgements on this and they have. For me, that is the end of it."

On whether the team would welcome another visit from the governing body, Green added: "We expected this to be the end but if the FIA want to come back in again and do further investigations, we are more than happy for them to do so.

"We have been completely open and honest with them through the whole process, we have given them every access that they have requested and if they want to come back and do some more, we are more than happy for that to happen."