What’s trending! Apart from the over under wagers that is trending, the Red Bull is furious about Aston Martin’s “copy” Christian Horner, team principal for Red Bull Racing, has never been hesitant to criticize his competitors, in contrast to Fernando Alonso. At the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, he set his sights on Aston Martin.
Most teams in F1 make significant modifications to their vehicles for the Spanish Grand Prix. And, except Haas, nine of the ten sections have modified their cars this season.
Some individuals believe Aston Martin’s new design went too far by borrowing too many ideas from other teams. People now refer to their vehicles as the “green Red Bull.”
Horner and other team members were observed drinking dragon fruit-flavoured Red Bull from a green can during the first practice. It appeared that this was a reference to their new name.
The Heated Debate
The European portion of the Formula One season began in hot weather, and the paddock was equally as hot and tense. Fernando Alonso harshly criticized the sport’s governing body, the FIA, which could land him in hot water. Meanwhile, Red Bull accused Aston Martin of copying the design of their vehicle.
Before starting practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, individuals were throwing bricks at one another. Aston Martin, which has lagged behind the competition all season, displayed an updated version of their AMR22 car that resembled Max Verstappen’s Red Bull RB18, which has won three races this season.
Senior aerodynamicists Dan Fallows and Andrew Alessi left Red Bull at the end of last year to join Aston Martin. Red Bull Team principal Christian Horner expressed “extreme concern” regarding Red Bull’s intellectual property theft.
“Telling your team to make a very close copy of our car is a pretty big deal, and of course, a few people have moved over the winter, so you can’t control what they think,” he said.
The Aston Martin has been referred to as the “green Red Bull,” and the Red Bull pit-wall team drank the green version of the beverage at their practice stations.
Aston Martin has a long history of doing this. When Racing Point was founded in 2020, it copied the design of the championship-winning Mercedes using photographs.
Following this, the FIA prohibited teams from copying other teams’ designs.
The FIA announced on Friday that their investigation into the legality of the Aston Martin, where both teams were involved, was complete. They stated that no wrongdoing had been committed and that there had been no reverse engineering or theft of intellectual property (IP).
But Red Bull refused to let it go. They were sceptical and had questions regarding the decision. The team “took note with interest” of the FIA’s statement and added, “Should any transfer of intellectual property have occurred, this would be a clear rule violation and cause for grave concern.”
Alonso On the Stewards
Alonso, a two-time world champion, stated that the FIA was not performing its duties on a busy morning for the organization.
At the previous race in Miami, the Spanish driver was penalized five seconds for cutting a chicane, removing him from a position to score points. According to him, he then slowed down to regain the time he had gained.
Alonso stated, “We believe the stewards were extremely unfair and poor at their jobs.” When we returned with the evidence, they were packing up and had already left the room.
They realized that they had no choice because the penalty had already been imposed after we presented them with the data.
“It was horrible. Formula One should not allow this to occur.” The FIA has informed the stewards about Alonso’s comments to punish him.
On the racetrack, Mercedes is also under considerable pressure. The team’s leader, Toto Wolff, stated that after Barcelona, the team would decide if they made a mistake with their car’s design and if they should try a different approach for next year’s model.
There are reasons for their cautious optimism. After making numerous modifications to the car’s floor, the team’s porpoising improved.
This has been an issue for them the entire season. Mercedes may have begun to determine whether or not their vehicle is as fast as they believe.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were second and third in the second practice, just tenths behind championship leader Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz led a Ferrari one-two in the morning practice, with Sainz finishing second.