Aston Martin in ‘clone’ war
HORNER RAGE AT COPY CAR
FURIOUS Red Bull boss Christian Horner has accused Aston Martin of copying their car.
Aston Martin arrived in Barcelona with a vastly updated machine for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, one that 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 the Aston Martin was a “clone” of their machine, while team advisor Helmut Marko raised the prospect of their data being “downloaded”.
Horner added: “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.
“It was brought to our attention by the FIA earlier in the week, where they said, ‘We’ve got a car that looks remarkably like yours, can we have a list of your leavers to see where they went?’. Of course, that immediately raises alarm bells.
“The look of this [updated Red Bull] wasn’t released until a month or so ago, so the work started way before that. 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, which we wouldn’t accept, is if there has been any transfer of intellectual property at all.”
Aston Martin insist the new design is a result of “legitimate independent work” and driver Lance Stroll claimed the team had designed two different cars over the winter and decided to go with their second option.
George Russell fears drivers could be exposed to long-term head trauma if the sport’s ‘porpoising’ issue is not resolved.
The British Mercedes driver compared the new phenomenon – when the car violently bounces on its suspension at high speed – to football’s dementia problem.