Red Bull accuses Aston Martin of copying their car as an upgrade to the AMR22 debut in Barcelona; The car was called “Green Red Bull” but the FIA - citing Mill – acquitted Aston Martin; Watch Spanish GP Live on Sky Sports F1
Aston Martin has been allowed to use their new-look car despite having similarities with the Red Bull.
Many teams have made major upgrades to the Spanish GP but differed from Aston Martin’s significantly different AMR22 Red Bull due to its several similar features, which are currently the F1’s fastest car.
But Aston Martin insisted they designed the car in the winter and the FIA confirmed the car had passed a “pre-event validity test” in Barcelona.
“During this [validation verification], it became clear that several of Aston Martin’s features were similar to those of other competitors,” read a statement from F1’s board of directors.
“The FIA has therefore launched an investigation into compliance with Section 17.3 of the Technical Regulations, and in particular the issue of ‘reverse engineering’ and possible illegal IP transfers.
“Both parties have fully cooperated with the FIA in this investigation and have provided all relevant information.
“The investigation, which involved a CAD check and a detailed analysis of the development process adopted by Aston Martin, confirmed that no wrongdoing had taken place, and therefore the FIA considers that the Aston Martin aerodynamic upgrades are consistent.”
The FIA states that Article 17.3 specifically defines and prohibits ‘reverse engineering’, i.e. the digital process of converting photographs (or other data) into CAD models, and prohibits IP transfers within teams, but equally, this section specifies vehicle designs by them. Allows to be affected. Among competitors, as always in Formula 1. ”
“In our analysis we have confirmed that the processes followed by Aston Martin were consistent with the requirements of this article.”
Red Bull responds to FIA statement, Horner with ‘copy’
In their own statement, Red Bull says they “noted the FIA’s statement with interest.”
“While the best form of counterfeit flattery is, any copy of the design must clearly comply with FIA rules surrounding ‘reverse engineering’,” the team said.
“However, if there is any transfer of IP which would be a clear violation of the regulations and it would be a matter of serious concern.”
Before the FIA released their statement, Red Bull boss Christian Horner accused Aston Martin of “copying” their car.
“Copying is the biggest form of flattery,” Horner told the BBC. “It’s a good idea to instruct your team to come up with a close-up view of our car.”
Horner, who had Red Bull’s green cans next to him at Pitt-Wall in his first practice, also mentioned that Aston Martin recently hired several former Red Bull staff.
One of them is Dan Folos, formerly the Air Chief of Red Bull and now the technical director of Aston Martin. However, he only officially joined the team in early April.
Aston Martin said their car was the result of “legitimate independent work” when Lance Stroll spoke earlier with Sky Sports F1 about the AMR22.
“I’ve heard some people say that [it looks like a red bull], but we really did our job at the factory,” Stroll said.
“We designed it for the winter and we’ve got it on track this weekend.
“It wasn’t easy to get here, it was flat out for the last few months to get all the bits … but hopefully it improves.
“We designed two cars in the winter. We tried the first one and now we’re trying it.”
Aston Martin explains the controversy
Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports
“Many called it the Red Bull-like Aston Martin
The Red Bull was asking questions because there had been some movement from Red Bull to Aston Martin over the winter and over the last few months, and there were questions from Red Bull about whether those people had taken any data with them.
“It simply came to our notice then.