F1 News: Aston Martin Fires Back At Red Bull Jokes Over Copycat Car
The Spanish Grand Prix was amazing for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it was a BRILLIANT race. Mercedes gained some pace and allowed Lewis Hamilton to show incredible driving as he reached 5th from 19th, and the sparring between Max Verstappen and George Russell had me jumping off of my seat.
But something that made fans titter was the fact that the Red Bull team was drinking from green Red Bull cans – a joke referencing the Aston Martin AMR22 that now looks very similar to Red Bull’s car.
The FIA has confirmed that the team has done nothing wrong, but Red Bull and chief Christian Horner aren’t finished investigating with the latter being very vocal about the copycat car through the Spanish Grand Prix.
https://twitter.com/LappedCars/status/1527628289719803904
Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel has now commented on the reaction from Red Bull after being asked about it by Motorsport.com:
“I think it was just at some point not fair.
“Especially towards, first of all, all the effort that went in [to change the AMR22].
“Second, on a personal level to Dan Fallows. I don’t think it was fair. Some things that were said, I think were not right.
“He’s a very good guy. I remember him from my time at Red Bull and obviously he’s joined the team and is with us now.
“So, some of the things that were said were just not right and I would like to hear that… not an apology, just… well, they will never hear anything… but what I mean is, some of the things that have been said were just not fair.”
The team has confirmed that there were two designs for the AMR22: the design that started the 2022 season, and the second that was revealed the weekend of the Spanish GP.
Vette’s teammate was keen to add his comments to the mix, too, saying that “we designed the car” and “the FIA said it was ok and legal – they let us compete”.
He continued:
“Parts of it look similar, I guess to the Red Bull, but it was us back at the factory that designed it and I think the team did an incredible job at getting all the bits out to Barcelona.
“Because it was flat out for many weeks leading up the race and very challenging to get all the parts to Barcelona for both cars.”
Vettel continued, adding that they’d made the decision to swap to the second design “around the first race” of this season.
“There was an uncertainty [on] which one is the more promising path,” said the four-time world champion.
“So, the decision was taken very early – I don’t remember exactly but I think before the first race, around the first race – and from then onwards it has been a big push because it’s basically a new car.
“But I think with the previous car that we had, we saw that there were some difficulties like other teams also are facing and are struggling with.
“We didn’t manage to make big progress [with the other design], so we believe it is the better direction.
“It’s not our decision [as drivers when a change of car concept needs to be made], it’s entirely up the team, the engineers, mostly the aerodynamic department to lead the way and then for everyone else to have the headache of solving the problem.”
