Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has conceded that he anticipates a lot of other teams are going to rock up to the Singapore Grand Prix with their rear wing design.
The Hungarian Grand Prix was the second time this season Aston Martin have arrived at a race and caused a stir.
The British side arrived in Barcelona in the second European race of the season with sidepods that looked oddly similar to those of Red Bull.
The Austrian side asked the FIA if this was not illegal, and adviser Dr Helmut Marko suggested that “data was stolen” from his team, although he could not say whether that data was used to inform Aston Martin’s design.
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However, the “green Red Bull” had actually, as confirmed by the FIA, been designed late last year, so there was no wrongdoing on the British team’s part.
In Budapest, McLaren arrived with new sidepods of their own, while Aston Martin had radically changed their rear wing. Haas also took Ferrari’s sidepod idea to use on Kevin Magnussen’s car.
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The changes for the Silverstone-based side had little effect over the course of the weekend, with neither Sebastian Vettel nor Lance Stroll making Q3, before Vettel grabbed the final point in P10.
Nonetheless, the changes being made to the car are a foundation for later, so Alpine sporting director Alan Permane indicated that his team as well as the other eight will be studying the design concept.
Krack still finds the comments made by Red Bull about Aston Martin’s design in Spain a little rude, but in any case, the German is certain that, particularly on the downforce-hungry Singapore track, other teams will be taking his team’s idea.
“Those comments were partly unfair, but that’s how it goes in Formula 1,” said Krack.
“The next races where a lot of downforce is important are Zandvoort and Singapore, I’d be surprised if we are the only ones racing with this idea in Singapore.”
Aston Martin have nine races left with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel before they welcome in Alpine’s Fernando Alonso next year to replace the retiring 35-year-old.