Helmut Marko believes that there were “three Red Bulls” on the podium in Bahrain
The head of Red Bull's young driver program reflects on Aston Martin's performance in Bahrain. He believes that the British team's performance is due to the engineers poached by Aston Martin from Red Bull.
A big step forward. That’s how we can describe Aston Martin’s progress in one year. In 2022, the team started the season at the bottom of the rankings before gradually making their way back to the middle of the pack.
Lawrence Stroll’s team then hired Fernando Alonso for 2023 and recruited brilliant engineers from the competition. Regardless, the results are there. In the very first race in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso managed to make it onto the podium.
Three identical cars, except for the engine.
A result that allowed Sergio Perez to joke, he indicated after the race. There were three Red Bulls on the podium, he said. One of his bosses, Helmut Marko, expressed the same sentiment, but without humor. The Austrian suspects that the engineers recruited by Aston Martin did not leave empty-handed.
« It is necessary to clarify how we got to this incredible copy. As things stand, alright, it is not forbidden to copy. But we must also take into account the fact that seven people were poached from us and our chief aerodynamicist was snatched by Aston Martin at a disproportionately high salary. […] Can we copy without any documentation and then make such a detailed copy of our car? », questioned the former driver. For him, the only difference between the three cars is the engine. Two have a Red Bull Powertrain engine, the other has a Mercedes engine.
This is not the first time that a suspicious team has accused Aston Martin of document theft. In 2020, Renault filed a complaint against Racing Point (formerly known as the team) for having parts that closely resembled those of Mercedes.
