When Aston Martin joined Formula 1 back in 2021, it was expected that the team would quickly become regular podium challengers.
With Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll in the cars and the team being backed by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, it seemed that the team were destined for success.
In both of their seasons so far in F1 however, Aston Martin have finished in seventh place in the constructors’ championship, scoring only a single podium along the way.
What the team have done however is assemble a team of talented individuals from the big teams to help them in the future.
READ: Kimi Raikkonen delights fans with fresh announcement
One of these acquisitions comes in the form of Dan Fallows, who left his role as Red Bull’s head of aerodynamics to become Aston Martin’s technical director.
Fallows played a part in designing last season’s dominant RB18 and following Aston Martin’s stunning start to the 2023 season, the team have been accused of copying Red Bull’s design.
The AMR23 does look a lot like the RB18 but multiple Red Bull sources have confirmed that they do not believe that Aston Martin have done anything wrong in the design of their car.
AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost seems to believe otherwise however, with the Austrian suggesting that the AMR23 is an exact copy of the RB18.
“Aston Martin took half the aerodynamic employees from Red Bull,” he told RacingNews365.
“Of course, they build the same car and paint it green.”
READ: Alpine CEO claims he would’ve allowed Oscar Piastri to join McLaren on this condition
‘Green Bull’ allegations initially surfaced last year, when the upgrade package that Aston Martin brought to the Spanish Grand Prix looked very similar to Red Bull’s.
With Dan Fallows’ knowledge playing a part in the design of the RB18, it is completely understandable that he would also implement this clearly successful design at Aston Martin.
While the AMR23 may strongly resemble a Red Bull, as long as no data has been carried over from Red Bull to Aston Martin by transferring employees, the team cannot be accused of doing anything wrong.