Aston Martin Performance Director Tom McCullough has revealed the strict parameters in which the Formula 1 team’s wind tunnel relationship with Mercedes operates.
The Silverstone-based squad has spent 2023 moving into a brand-new facility, built atop the original site used since the formation of Jordan in 1991 and the new site will mean the team will have its own wind tunnel to carry out aerodynamic testing.
However, Aston Martin’s new wind tunnel won’t be online until the end of 2024, meaning it will continue to employ the use of Mercedes’ wind tunnel a short drive away in Brackley.
The use of another F1 team’s wind tunnel means that strict control measures are required to ensure knowledge isn’t shared.
“The FIA are pretty strict and do a lot of inspections and all that stuff. Dominic Harlow [head of F1 technical audit for the governing body] comes and visits the teams,” McCullough told motorsport.com.
“But for us with Mercedes, it is absolutely shut down to one, open to the other. Different access doors, different people running the sessions.
“So, I think from a confidentiality [point of view], obviously the relationship we have with Mercedes is very robust from that side. The FIA, that’s their job to police all that.”
Aston Martin and Mercedes’ situation is not unique, with AlphaTauri having used sister squad Red Bull’s wind tunnel since last year.
The two Red Bull-owned outfits have largely operated as separate entities, but concerns emerged around the two squad’s working relationship when AlphaTauri’s introduction of RB19-inspired design philosophy in Singapore helped propel them from 10th in the Constructors’ standings to eighth by the end of the season.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also stated earlier this year that AlphaTauri will be using “as many synergies with Red Bull Racing as allowed by the regulations”.
AlphaTauri has also strengthened its ties with the reigning champion’s aero department, prompting concerns that next year’s AlphaTauri could be a clone of the RB19.
However, the Faenza camp downplayed the influence Red Bull will have on next year’s car and Aston Martin’s McCullough spoke on how he sees the situation playing out.
“Obviously, the regulations have changed over the years,” he began. “The way they are at the moment, maybe as a pair of teams, they haven’t exploited that as much as the regulations allow.
“[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.
“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. There’s a lot of convergence happening anyway.
“Maybe they’re just going for ‘buy everything you can do within the regulations’ [gearbox, front and rear suspension] and then develop along a philosophy.
“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.”
Concerns of copycat cars aren’t uncommon in recent F1 history.
In Aston Martin’s previous incarnation as Racing Point, the team came under fire with its 2020 RP20 machine closely resembling the 2019 title-winning Mercedes W10.
The Racing Point car was subsequently dubbed ‘The Pink Mercedes’ and the FIA sought to clamp down on copycats by barring teams from using photos to reverse engineer other team’s designs for parts within the regulations that must be produced originally.
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