Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has praised Aston Martin’s monumental progress, with Fernando Alonso having claimed a remarkable podium at last weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Given that the Silverstone-based team finished seventh in the constructors’ championship last season, it’s a sensational turnaround for them to now find themselves third in the pecking order, following an incredible winter.
Many have likened Aston Martin’s AMR23 to Red Bull’s design philosophy, with Sergio Pérez having joked during the post-race press conference that there was three Red Bulls on the podium.
Horner, though, believes Aston Martin’s progress demonstrates what’s “possible” for “all the teams”, and has hailed “imitation” as the “biggest form of flattery”.
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“I think it demonstrates to all the teams that it’s possible. So they’ve obviously done a good job over the winter,” Horner said, as reported by ESPN.
“They say imitation is the biggest form of flattery and it’s good to see the old car going so well.”
One of the biggest reasons for Aston Martin’s sudden rise towards the front is due to their technical director Dan Fallows, who was signed from Red Bull at the start of last year.
Aston Martin’s 2023 car is the first that Fallows has had any input in, perhaps suggesting why it’s so similar to Red Bull’s 2022 design.
Despite the similarities between the two, Horner doesn’t regret letting Fallows leave, and again hailed how “flattering’ the “resemblance” is.
“Well, no, because I think we have a wonderful team and everything has to evolve. Nothing stands still,” Horner said.
“It’s flattering to see the resemblance of that car to ours so it was great to see the three of them on the podium.”
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Aston Martin have certainly proven that Red Bull’s philosophy for the new aerodynamic regulations is the correct one, with Mercedes looking increasingly likely to ditch their approach.
Horner believes it’s just a matter of time until Mercedes potentially copy their design, with the Germans having fallen backwards since the introduction of the new regs.
“I think that the operating windows of these cars are very narrow and every team in the top three looks like its developed its own theme and one team have adopted our theme and have made a gain so at some point it is going to converge and that can happen within a season,” Horner concluded.