Have Red Bull and Ferrari lifted a design idea from Aston Martin for their 2022 F1 cars?

A clever aerodynamic design idea originally featured on the Aston Martin AMR22 has now been copied by championship contenders Red Bull and Ferrari. As reported by the Motorsport Network, both the RB18 and the F1-75 now feature a “keel wing” under their respective noses, which will likely provide them with a boost in front-end downforce.

While the Ferrari F1-75 actually featured the design at its launch in February, just like the Aston Martin, it is speculated that the Scuderia might not have come up with the design on its own.

This was due to comments made by team principal Mattia Binotto during the launch. Speaking about the car, Binotto revealed that they hadn’t been shy about taking ideas from their rivals and incorporating them into their car. He said:

“On the F1-75, there is already a detail from a car that was presented in the past few days. And especially in this first phase we will all be watching each other very closely.”

And given that Ferrari launched their car nearly a week later than Aston Martin, it is plausible that they could have copied the design within that time.

Meanwhile, Red Bull seem to have taken their time in evaluating the merits of the design before putting it on their car. The Austrian outfit brought a significant chunk of upgrades to the Imola GP last weekend, and among them was the “keel wing”.

Design convergence is not new in F1, as teams copy ideas from rivals all the time. Within just five to six years after a regulation change, most cars on the grid will look almost identical to each other. The best ideas do not always come from the best teams. It is often the smaller outfits who come up with a clever design idea before it is adopted by the entire grid.

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Aston Martin hopes Sebastian Vettel will stay beyond 2022

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack is keen to retain four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel in the team beyond the current season. With the German’s contract expiring at the end of 2022 and the team struggling for pace, speculation about his future has been mounting. Speaking to speedcafe following the Imola GP, Krack said:

“I’m not going to speak about contracts here, but obviously if you have a driver like Sebastian Vettel that you can keep motivated by giving him the car that deserves the quality of his driving, I think you would be foolish not to try to retain him. But I 100 percent understand his comments. He wants to see progress, he wants to see the car moving forward, because he’s not the driver that wants to fight for P18 or P19, or whatever.”

Despite having some clever aerodynamic ideas, the Aston Martin AMR22 hasn’t yielded the results the team had been hoping for this year. During their car launch earlier this year, the team was hopeful of returning to the front of the midfield, potentially fighting the frontrunners for podiums and occasional victories.

The team, however, struggled for pace in three of the first four rounds of the season and only managed to score at Imola last weekend.