Red Bull's sports consultant Helmut Marko preferred to mince his words and said that his team cannot prove an alleged plagiarism by Aston Martin
A real controversy took over Formula 1 on the arrival in Barcelona, where the category competed in the Spanish Grand Prix on May 22. Aston Martin appeared with a completely different design in the AMR22 for the weekend, and the car's similarities to Red Bull's RB18 immediately became the subject of debate. However, Helmut Marko - the taurine's sports consultant - said his team will not take the issue any further.
"The current state of the matter is that we cannot prove anything specifically," Marko said in an interview broadcast by German channel RTL. "We are not going after it because we don't see Aston Martin as a direct competitor against us. If you can't prove it in black and white, you shouldn't [try]," he considered.
Marko's speech directly contradicts his own arguments the last time he addressed the issue, when he even stated that "there is evidence that data has been downloaded" onto the team's computers - which could be a serious suspicion. The Austrian did not deny the statement, but made a point of putting 'warm fuzzies' on the situation.
▶️ Get to know the GRAND PRIME channel on Twitch by clicking here!
However, even after saying that the matter was closed at Red Bull, Marko again called for a clarification from the FIA. In the sports consultant's opinion, it needs to be known to what extent the copies are allowed - so that then AlphaTauri can consider a set closer to that of the main team.
"I said the data was downloaded, I didn't say where it went," he stated. "We would like a clarification from the FIA on how far you can go. Because we have a sister team, AlphaTauri, and if you interpret it consistently, AlphaTauri should be more like Red Bull," he finished.
The controversy took over the paddock mainly due to the fact that Aston Martin hired employees with recent experience at Red Bull, who would even have participated in the elaboration of the RB18. One of the main names is Dan Fallows, who was head of aerodynamics for the Taurinos and went to the team led by Lawrence Stroll.
Thus, with the appearance of a car similar to the Austrian team's - and taking into account Aston Martin's terrible performance at the start of the 2022 season -the appearance of an AMR22 with features similar - at least externally - to the RB18 led to questions about a possible plagiarism of intellectual property - which is strictly forbidden.
Apparently without the matter being completely resolved, Formula 1 is getting ready to land in Baku for the Azerbaijan GP, scheduled to take place between June 10 and 12.