Big things were expected from Aston Martin when the rebrand of Racing Point was completed ahead of the 2021 season, but so far these expectations have not been matched by the team’s results.
In their two years in Formula 1 Aston Martin have finished seventh in both seasons and scored a single podium along the way, coming in Baku in 2021 thanks to a stellar drive from Sebastian Vettel.
The team have been powered by Mercedes and have a partnership with the team that allow them to purchase parts from the Silver Arrows, however it was Red Bull that the team were accused of copying early last year.
Aston Martin struggled in the first few rounds of the 2022 season as their car design under the major regulation changes was not as competitive as they would have hoped, forcing them to look elsewhere for inspiration.
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Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll then took to the track at the Spanish Grand Prix with a new look design that was dubbed the ‘Green Bull’ due to its similarity to the dominating Red Bull car.
The accusations were not helped by the fact that Aston Martin’s technical director Dan Fallows had previously worked for the energy drink giants, leading to suggestions that he could be copying his former employers.
The situation quickly blew over however as neither Aston Martin made it to Q3 in Spain, proving that the ‘Green Bull’ was not quite as effective as the Red Bull and team principal Mike Krack has suggested that his team’s refusal to get involved in a war of words was key to neutralising the allegations.
“Frustration is the wrong word because we knew that, we anticipated that this will happen,” Krack told GPFans.
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“I think we would have maybe taken it more on board if there was any truth in it. We really did our stuff.
“We knew that this might come and I think if you look back, we were quite relaxed about it and there was no war of words from our side. It calmed down in the meantime and we have moved on.”
The future looks exciting for Aston Martin as new recruit Fernando Alonso has claimed that from what he has seen during his first few weeks with the team, there is the potential there to challenge for championships within a couple of seasons with the help of the new regulations.