F1 Car Review: Is Aston Martin's car exact copy of Red Bull?

The give-and-take finds its roots back in last year.

The 2023 season opener at Sakhir was exhilarating for Red Bull as well as Aston Martin fans (especially for the Alonso faithfuls). Red Bull's dominating 1-2 indicated that there once again could be no touching them. Whereas Aston Martin staked their claims right and showed pace that evening.

As per the data, they were the second fastest car on the grid. Starting fifth, Fernando Alonso made full of the pace and opportunity he got to feature on the podium after over 15 months. His last podium appearance was in Qatar 2021.

In the post-race press conference, Red Bull's Sergio Perez poked fun at the greens. "It's nice to see three Red Bull cars on the podium", he said as everyone at the conference, including Fernando, had a little laugh.

A little context

But the joke of 'Green Red Bull' goes back to last year. Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Aston Martin made a significant change to their car. Which bore a significant similarity to that of Red Bull. The model that landed in Barcelona was 'completely different' from the one that started the season.

"Copying is the biggest form of flattery.", commented the Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. “It is quite a thing to instruct your team to come up with a very close-looking clone of our car and of course, a few people have moved over the winter period, and what you can’t control is what they take in their heads."

https://twitter.com/ESPNF1/status/1527629883442069505?s=20

One of the high-profile names that share history with Red Bull is Aston Martin's current aerodynamic engineer Dan Fallows. He has been over there since April 2022. During FIA's pre-routine legality check (ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix), it became 'apparent' to them that a few number of features of AMR22 'resembled those of another competitor'.

However, in conclusion, their aerodynamic upgrades were declared compliant. Of course, that didn't sit right with some individuals but looking at the team's conditions, they couldn't care less.

Word War to continue?

That ain't the case in 2023. Adding the testing results into consideration, Aston Martins have looked like the second-fastest team in the race trim. "Had Alonso qualified higher, he surely would've been a threat to us". These words came from someone like Helmut Marko (to Servus TV).

But Horner didn't hold back. "It is good to see the old car going so well", he said. “I think that it’s flattering to see the resemblance of that car to ours,” he added. “So it was great to see the three of them on the podium.”

In response to all of this, Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack: “We always decided that we will not go into any war of words. So we’ll leave it there.”

The copying chain also goes back. In 2020, when Aston Martin was Racing Point and Pink, they were accused of copying Mercedes who were the most dominant constructors of that period. Thus, Pink Mercedes. Lance Stroll and Perez himself were the drivers. They finished fourth in the constructor's championship that year.

Aston Martin - The Most Improved Car?

So far, the Aston Martins have shown the biggest increment in speed as they have cut around two-and-a-half seconds around a lap at the Sakhir Circuit. That's massive progress over the winter. And the best part is that they don't even try to hide it. All the faith and money Lawrence Stroll have put into this project finally seems to be on the right track.

Fernando Alonso, who replaced the retiring Sebastian Vettel, has been confident of Aston Martin's 2023 Challenger ever since he stepped into the team. "This is a lovely car to drive", said the man mid-race who has made some questionable decisions throughout his 20-year-long career.

The consistency remains to be seen. But they have made a strong first impression. Alonso has surely got his joy back - a major positive for F1.