“They build the same car and paint it green” - Aston Martin called Red Bull's closest replica by AlphaTauri boss

Aston Martin F1's AMR 23 has been likened to a close replica of the Red Bull RB19 by Scuderia AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost.

Red Bull has been the team to beat since the new F1 regulations were put in place at the start of 2021. The Milton-Keynes-based team has come out of the traps flying this season and could continue their dominance over the rest of the F1 grid.

The same cannot be said for their sister team AlphaTauri, which has regressed from being in the midfield to dropping towards the bottom of the grid.

Tost put this down to his team not being able to share intellectual property with Red Bull. In an interview with racingnews365.com, the Austrian said:

"We do everything, regarding the cooperation with Red Bull, which is [allowed in] the regulation. We get from Red Bull a gearbox, rear suspension, parts from the front suspension, hydraulics.

Tost then talked about what they cannot share:

"The wind tunnel, we have to use separately. We use the same wind tunnel, but we are in the wind tunnel on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and Red Bull [are] in the wind tunnel Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or something like this. We are not allowed to share anything. As you know, when we started our project [in 2006], we got everything from Red Bull. This was the best situation, but this was [subsequently] forbidden by the regulations."

Tost also pointed to Aston Martin's AMR 23, which has a striking resemblance to the Red Bull RB 19. Tost believes this is down to Team Silverstone's recent recruitments.

"The Aston Martin looks like the Red Bull because Aston Martin took half of the aerodynamic employees from Red Bull. Of course, they build the same car and paint it green. This is for us, unfortunately, not the case, because we cannot take away leading people from Red Bull Technology and bring [them] to AlphaTauri. So, it's a question of money, because these people for sure are not cheap."

Aston Martin hired Red Bull's former Head of Aerodynamics, Dan Fallows, midway through 2022 as their new Chief Technical Officer. The team also brought on former Mercedes aerodynamicist Eric Blandin as Fallows' deputy and these moves appear to be paying immediate dividends for Lawrence Stroll and Co.

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Max Verstappen expects Fernando Alonso to contend for race wins in 2023 with Aston Martin

Max Verstappen believes Aston Martin has a competitive package that could see them contending for race wins in the 2023 F1 season.

While Red Bull romped to a one-two-finish in the season opener in Bahrain, the talk of the town was Fernando Alonso's podium on debut for Aston Martin.

When asked if that result was a sign of an impending title challenge for Fernando Alonso during the post-race press conference in which Sportskeeda was present, Verstappen said:

"I hope so for Fernando because he has had a few years where there was not really a possibility to fight at the front, so I'm happy to see him sitting here already in race one. At Aston Martin, they really have the spirit and drive, they want to win and they've hired a lot of good people. So I guess it can only get better for them."

The reigning world champion went on to add:

"And I think for this year, it's difficult to say if they're going to challenge for the championship, but race wins are definitely on the table. You still win two or three races a year because sometimes they are some tracks which really suit your car and everything just comes together and you can win a race with maybe sometimes a bit of help or luck."

Alonso has not won a race since 2013 and Aston Martin has never won a race in the team's current iteration. But it will come as no surprise if the Spaniard is the one to bring them that success.