Aston Martin Performance Director Comments On Red Bull/ AlphaTauri Collaboration

Monday, 25 December 2023 at 11:00

Aston Martin's performance director, Tom McCullough, shared his opinion on accusations of Red Bull's and AlphaTauri's close collaboration.

Red Bull and AlphaTauri are the only two teams on the F1 grid that are owned by the same company, Red Bull GmbH. This has not been an issue in the past, but complaints about the possibility of the rules exploitation by the two teams started increasing over the last few weeks.

McLaren's CEO, Zak Brown, called it an unhealthy situation as it impacts decisions made both on and off the track. He wrote the two teams could have access to the same data, personnel, and even an influence over strategic votes.

On the other hand, Aston Martin's performance director suggested Red Bull and AlphaTauri have not exploited even as much as regulations allow. As quoted by motorsport.com, he said:

"Obviously, the regulations have changed over the years. The way they are at the moment, maybe as a pair of teams, they haven't exploited that as much as the regulations allow…"

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Aston Martin used the same wind tunnel as Mercedes and bought the power units from the German team, so McCollough is familiar with FIA inspections.

"[The FIA] can ask to look at everything. You've got to be fully transparent when the FIA come in and inspect. They do a lot of inspections."

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said AlphaTauri was pursuing a different concept and suggested other teams like McLaren or Aston Martin look closer to Red Bull than its sister team. McCollough continued:

"I'm sure they'll be all over that [AlphaTauri-Red Bull dynamic] because I'm sure people are looking at it. On the outside, it looks as though [AlphaTauri] have done their own aero development philosophy."

Horner said Red Bull's plan is to supply AlphaTauri with all the components that are allowed by regulations, which is nothing wrong. Aston Martin's technical director added:

"They’re using the same wind tunnel; they’ll probably be using the same CFD stuff. There’s a chance therefore that, if it looks similar, they can start working with it and making it more competitive."