Why Aston decided on two-car concept approach amid Red Bull F1 saga

There is however a major difference between the two situations. In the earlier case the accusation was that the Silverstone team had borrowed IP from a friendly team in the form of its PU, gearbox and suspension supplier Mercedes.

This time round the clear suggestion from Red Bull bosses Christian Horner and Helmut Marko was that information had travelled from Milton Keynes with one of the seven employees who had switched camps in recent months.

Such matters are taken seriously within the sport, which is why teams have strict controls within their IT systems, and why the FIA keeps such a close watch for potential breaches – whether they involve planned co-operation or possible theft.

By the time we saw the revised Aston Martin in Barcelona the FIA had already seen the team’s submissions of its new designs, and an investigation had been conducted at the factory.

These people obviously know what they are looking for, and their conclusion was that Aston had done nothing wrong. If any of the former RBR people had brought knowledge in their heads, it was fair game. Anything more than that would have been illegal.

In parallel having been alerted by the FIA, Red Bull had begun its own investigation, pursuing any digital trail left in the company system by the seven departed employees.

The unsubtle suggestion from the RBR camp was that an anomaly may have indeed shown up. What that was, and whether or not it will lead to further investigation by the FIA, has not yet been made clear.

The whole story was incredibly frustrating for Aston Martin chief technical officer Andrew Green, who also took a lot of heat last time around.

Green stressed at the launch of the AMR22 in February that the car had been designed with a possible switch of aero concepts in mind, and when the fuss kicked off in Spain he pointed out that the design was in the works long…