Sending in the clones
RED BULL FURY OVER ‘COPYCAT’ CAR
FURIOUS Red Bull boss Christian Horner has accused Aston Martin of copying their car.
And Horner even raised the prospect of their intellectual property (IP) being pinched, claiming if that had occurred it would be a “criminal offence”.
Aston Martin arrived in Barcelona with a vastly updated machine for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, one which bears a striking resemblance to the innovative Red Bull design.
The sport’s governing body, the FIA, have investigated the matter and come to the conclusion “no wrongdoing had been committed”.
But that has done little to satisfy Horner, who claimed their Aston Martin was a “clone” of their machine, while team advisor Helmut Marko raised the prospect of their data being “downloaded”.
Horner (above) said: “Copying is the biggest form of flattery. It’s quite a thing to instruct your team to come up with a very close-looking clone of our car.
“It’s no coincidence that we’ve had a few individuals that have transferred from Red Bull to Aston Martin over the winter and the early part of this season.
“I’m not going to disclose exactly where we are with certain individuals, but it would be an offence, it would be a criminal offence.
“What is permissible, we see it up and down a paddock... individuals move from team to team after a gardening leave period, and what they take in their head, that’s fair game, that’s their knowledge. What isn’t fair, and what is totally unacceptable, is if there has been any transfer of IP at all.
“IP is a team’s lifeblood, it’s what we invest millions and millions of pounds into, and you wouldn’t want to see that just turning up in a rival organisation.”
Aston Martin insist the new design is a result of “legitimate independent work” and driver Lance Stroll said: “We designed two cars over the winter. We tried the first one and now we’re trying this one.”
Meanwhile, George Russell fears Formula One drivers could be exposed to long-term head trauma if the ‘porpoising’ phenomenon is not resolved. The British driver compared the sensation – when the car violently bounces on its suspension at high speed – to football’s dementia problem.
“When you are travelling at 200mph on the straight, and you are smashing up and down on the ground, for sure you wouldn’t choose to have it that way,” said Russell.
“You could compare it to the footballers of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s when they had the massively heavy footballs. Analysis was done that there were health consequences for these chaps who headed the ball, and things were changed. Formula One is the centre of innovation and there is no reason why we cannot find a scientific solution for this.”