Motorsports
RBR and Aston Martin fight for the “green” Red Bull
Red Bull Racing expressed concern about transferring its intellectual property to Aston Martin as the latter unveiled the heavily revised AMR22 at initial testing in Barcelona. However, after an investigation, the FIA found nothing illegal.
When the redesigned Aston Martin AMR22 came out of the team’s garage at the Barcelona circuit for the first free test drives of this year’s 6th Formula 1 3-day race in Barcelona, Spain, its resemblance was striking – particularly the side ones Air intakes – instantly recognizable clear Red Bull RB18.
The extensive redesign of the AMR22 includes, in addition to the new air intakes, a new floor, changes to the engine cover and in particular to the air intakes of the cooling system, as well as a renewed rear wing and cockpit protection (halo).
Speaking to the BBC soon after, RBR director Christian Horner was quick to label the AMR22 a ‘clone’ of the RB18 and expressed concerns about a possible illegal transfer of data from Milton Keynes to the nearby Aston Martin F1 Silver factory.
“It’s different when you just order your team to create a similar clone of our car. Some people have moved over the winter and what you can’t control is what’s on their mind.” said the Brit.
“But what would particularly concern us would be if any of our intellectual property rights had changed hands in any way. This is where we rely on the FIA to do their job. She has access to everything and we will rely heavily on it to ensure that no Red Bull intellectual property has found its way to this car”, concluded Horner.
As a result, the FIA rushed to investigate whether and to what extent the new AMR22 violated regulations enacted last year to ban the transfer of designs or entire components from one group to another and ban the use of cameras and software , which allow other vehicles to scan photos and convert them into precise digital design data
The FIA soon announced that their investigation had concluded that there was nothing illegal about the redesigned Aston Martin AMR22. However, the federation mentioned this article of the regulations “Allows car designs to have competitive influences, as has always been the case in Formula 1.”
Aston Martin’s announcement, which followed that of the FIA, says among other things “We shared the details of our (design) upgrade with FIA technicians. After analyzing the data and procedures, the FIA has confirmed in writing that our upgrade results from separate legal work in accordance with the technical regulations.”
Source: sport 24
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.