The Green Red Bull? - Part 1
Aston Martin appears to have copied Red Bull's side pod design, perhaps another iteration of the "Pink Mercedes."
Several teams unveiled their new upgrades this weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix, but two cars have caught the attention of their rivals, the two Aston Martin cars of Sebastien Vettel and Lance Stroll. The AMR22 has “a new floor, side pods, engine cover, rear wing, and halo,” writes Mark Hughes for F1, but it is the side pod design that is turning heads in the paddock.
The FIA launched an investigation into Aston Martin’s development practices, to decide whether or not they stole intellectual property from Red Bull using “reverse engineering” (F1).
They concluded today “that no wrongdoing had been committed, and therefore the FIA considers that the Aston Martin aerodynamic upgrades are compliant,” a controversial decision.
Aston Martin will be able to race this weekend with their upgrades, and so far there is no penalty. Red Bull has responded to the FIA, saying, “Red Bull Racing have noted the FIA’s statement with interest.”
Could we be seeing another iteration of the “Pink Mercedes”, the Racing Point BWT car in 2020 that look and performed similarly to the Mercedes W10, which won a championship in 2019?
I assume that this situation will develop throughout the race weekend, thus the “part 1,” depending on the performance of Aston Martin. Should they have a great race and drastically improve their form in a short time, then Red Bull and some of Aston Martin’s midfield rivals will likely protest. Stay tuned.