Red Bull suspects ex-employees: "Would be breaking their contract"
General
- GPblog.com
It's the talk of the day in Barcelona Friday: is the AMR22 legal or not. The Aston Martin team has come up with a major update, and with it the UK team's car suddenly looks very much like Red Bull Racing's RB18. Ted Kravitz discusses the situation at Sky Sports.
'Turned over' employees
Aston Martin brought a B specification to Spain and in everything, the new car now resembles the RB18. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner are logically unhappy with the turn of events. They think that Aston Martin has managed to unlawfully gain access to the IP (intellectual property) of the formation of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Employees who traded Red Bull for Aston Martin would have been responsible for this.
In a statement, the FIA revealed that Aston Martin is not in violation. The team led by Mike Krack is also unaware of any wrongdoing. Kravitz: "There have been some movement of people from Red Bull to Aston Martin over the winter and last few months. Some questions from Red Bull as to whether they've taken data with them which would be breaking their contract", according to Sky Sports' pit reporter.
Red Bull states that it is virtually impossible to replicate the parts so well. Only with data would that be possible, Red Bull claims. The FIA maintains a different reading after its own investigation. "The FIA have been to the factory, and the FIA have confirmed in writing that their update has been generated by legitimate independent work by Aston Martin. Lance Stroll confirmed to me earlier today that they had this idea being designed in conjunction with the package they started at the start of the season."
Red Bull investigates
So Red Bull is now diametrically opposed to the FIA and Aston Martin. The Austrians have already indicated that they will not leave it at that. They will get to the bottom of how this could have happened. Any evidence will of course be handed over to the international motorsport association.
This would not be the first time that Aston Martin has failed to comply with the rules. In 2020, then still under the name of Racing Point, the team received fifteen World Championship point deduction and a fine of 400,000 euros. At the time, parts were found to have been copied one-to-one from Mercedes.