“I think it is flattering to see” - Red Bull advisor on Aston Martin car’s resemblance to theirs

After Helmut Marko, Red Bull's Christian Horner commented on the similarity between the RB19 and Aston Martin's AMR23. The latter was the only car different from an RB on the podium in Bahrain.

Red Bull has been pointing out the resemblance between their car and the Aston Martin AMR23 ever since it made its surprising way up to the podium in Bahrain.

While it was the team's advisor, Dr Helmut Marko at first, it is now their principal, Christian Horner, who commented on the same when asked about Dan Fallows' departure from the team.

Fallows was the aerodynamic head at RB and then moved to AM. He has been in the spotlight due to his big contribution in designing the car. When Horner was asked if the team regrets not having Fallows, he said, as quoted by Motorsport.com:

"No, because we have a wonderful team. Everything has to evolve, nothing stands still. I think it is flattering to see the resemblance of that car to ours, so it was great to see the three of them on the podium."

This is not the first time that Aston Martin have been blamed for copying Red Bull. During the 2022 season too, similar allegations were raised. But since the car was largely underperforming, it wasn't brought to much notice.

However, as the AMR23 was excellent throughout the race weekend with a podium finish (a major improvement for the team), the allegations have been raised yet again.

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Red Bull boss believes that the design ideas of both teams will 'converge'

Christian Horner feels that the team (Aston Martin) has done a lot of hard work during the winter break to build a car as fascinating and fast as the AMR23. Through his words, it feels that it is becoming possible for midfield teams to climb up to the podium.

At the same time, he mentioned the similarities in the cars by saying that 'imitation is the biggest form of flattery'.

"I think it demonstrates to all of the teams that it is possible. They have obviously done a good job over the winter, and they say imitation is the biggest form of flattery and it is good to see the old car going so well!

"I think the operating windows of these cars is very narrow and every team in the top three looks like it has developed its own theme."

He also stated that AM has adopted Red Bull's theme and 'it' will converge throughout the length of the season.

"One team has adopted our theme and it made a gain, so I guess at one point it is going to converge and that can happen during a season."

Though Fernando Alonso had an amazing finish during the race, the car is way too far from Red Bull. Max Verstappen was dominating throughout the 57 laps at Bahrain, making a 1-2 finish for the team look as easy as it could have been.

However, there still are many expectations from AM to win at least one race this season.