Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has likened Aston Martin’s 2023 challenger to an old Red Bull, believing that others will soon follow their lead and designs will begin to converge.
Horner explained that a convergence of design could happen in as little as “two weeks” but it’s more likely that there will be a streamlining of designs over the course of the season.
Fernando Alonso finishing on the third step of the podium in Bahrain firmly established the gains that Aston Martin had made over the winter and the Silverstone-based team now looks to have bridged the gap between the midfield.
Aston Martin sparked controversy with Red Bull when they introduced upgrades to the sidepods and floor that resembled the RB18, the biggest aerodynamic upgrade since former Red Bull Head of Aerodynamics Dan Fallows joined the team in green.
But Horner said that he viewed the resemblance as a compliment to see how close the design looks to that of Red Bull.
“They say imitation is the biggest form of flattery and it’s good to see the old car going so well,” Horner said following the season opener in Bahrain.
“Based on the result of one race you would have to say they are the second-strongest team here.”
When asked if he regretted letting Fallows go, Horner said: “Well no, because I think we have a wonderful team and everything has to evolve, nothing stands still.
“It’s flattering to see the resemblance of that car to ours, so it was great to see the three of them on the podium.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolf, was keen to talk about the failings in the design of the W14, accepting that Mercedes needed to ditch their current concept and find something more competitive after qualifying on Saturday.
But with Red Bull’s concept now clearly a benchmark for the current regulations and after the success of Silverstone-based team in Bahrain, Horner believes it will only be a matter of time before other teams follow suit.
“I’ve been around long enough to see things change so quickly and I still think that these cars are still relatively immature and as teams develop and upgrades come, things will change.”
“I think that the operating windows of these cars are very narrow and every team in the top three looks like it developed its own theme and one team have adopted our theme and have made a gain so at some point it is going to converge and that can happen within a season.”
“It can converge in two weeks so let us see a few more circuits, more surfaces, the tyres [and] how they work at these different venues.”
