The start of the 2022 season saw teams either delighted or disappointed with the development path that they had chosen following the major changes in regulations that came into effect.
Red Bull’s RB-18 was initially overweight but after shifting the excess mass, the team had one of the most dominant pieces of machinery in Formula 1 history.
Aston Martin were one of the teams who struggled however, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll struggled to extract point scoring performances from their 2022 challenger, which was uncompetitive compared to the majority of the other teams on the grid.
Going into the Spanish Grand Prix, the team decided to drastically change their approach and turned up to the circuit in Barcelona with a car which looked very similar to the RB-18.
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Suspicions were raised about Aston Martin’s inspirations for their new car design and their defence was not helped by the fact that their technical director Dan Fallows had been part of the team who had designed the RB-18 during his time with Red Bull.
Christian Horner expressed his concerns about Aston Martin’s motives at the time and was even spotted with a green can of Red Bull on the pit wall as a cheeky nod to the ‘Green Bull’ allegations being thrown at Aston Martin.
Despite accusations of copying being thrown at the team, Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has explained that his team remained calm about the whole situation, as they expected this reaction to their design choice.
“Frustration is the wrong word because we knew that, we anticipated that this will happen,” said Krack.
“I think we would have maybe taken it more on board if there was any truth in it. We really did our stuff.
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“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.”
With Fernando Alonso joining the team ahead of the 2023 season to replace the retired Sebastian Vettel, it is an exciting time to be a fan of Aston Martin.
With the help of the budget cap, Alonso has suggested that his new team could be title contenders in the next couple of years, claiming that the staff behind the scenes, Dan Fallows included, are some of the most talented he has ever come across.