Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel has hit out at those who’ve dubbed the B-spec version of the 2022 Aston Martin the ‘Green Red Bull’.
The British squad debuted a heavily revised car at last month’s Spanish Grand Prix, with notably similar sidepods to those used by Red Bull.
Such was the similarity that the FIA conducted an investigation to ensure all was above board, ruling as such just prior to the Spanish event starting.
That didn’t stop Red Bull however which continued to insinuate that the sidepods could only be the result of stolen intellectual property, given a number of key aerodynamic staff had switched from Milton Keynes to Silverstone during the off-season.
That’s a point rigorously denied by Aston Martin, though that has done little to stop cynics dubbing the car the ‘Green Red Bull’.
“I think it was just, at some point, not fair especially towards, you know, first of all, all the effort that went in,” said Vettel of the criticisms.
“Second, I think on a personal level to Dan Fallows, I don’t think it was fair.
“Some things that were said I think were not right.
“He’s a very good guy, I remember him from my time at Red Bull, and obviously he’s joined the team – he’s with us now.
“So I think some of the things that were said, they’re just not right.”
Fallows was formerly the head of Red Bull’s aerodynamics and was the highest profile defector from the world championship winning squad.
He formally started with Aston Martin in April, leaving next to no time for him to have any impact on the B-spec design.
Lance Stroll too defended the team owned, in large part, by his father.
“We designed the car, the FIA said it was okay and legal,” he noted.
“We started designing this car many, many months ago.
“Parts of it looks similar, I guess, to the Red Bull, but it was us back at the factory that designed it.
“I think the team did an incredible job of getting all the bits out to Barcelona, because it was flat out for many weeks leading up to the race, and very challenging to get all the parts to Barcelona for both cars.
“So, really well done to the team. It was an extremely great effort from everyone to do that.”
Aston Martin sits ninth in the constructors’ championship, its fortunes having not improved since the introduction of the B-spec car two races ago.
However, the team hopes the development headroom the revised car offers allows it to make up ground as the season progresses.
The 2022 season consists of 22 events, the eighth of which is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix next weekend.
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