Third place achieved by Fernando Alonso in the past Bahrain Grand Prix Formula 1 has turned this sport upside down. It has meant the return of the Spanish driver to the elite (for once, finally, with a competitive car) and the accusations and reproaches have not been long in appearing. Rather, they started the Saturday before the race. What is the reason? The Asturian’s Aston Martin surprised everyone from the first free sessions and in qualifying he showed his good performance. Something that he corroborated in the Grand Prix with the pace and good performance shown. A level that exceeded in everything Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Alpine y Alfa Romeo…
from sixth to second
All these teams finished last year ahead of Aston Martin and suddenly it has become the second team behind only Red Bull. How have they done it? An ascent like the one carried out by Aston Martin It is not usual in F1. Such a beastly progression is not frequent and something similar in the most modern era was only seen in 2009, when Brawn GP won the World Championship after finding a technical trick that allowed them to overtake their rivals when only a few months before they had been at the back. Apart from the economic injection that the team has received, one of his most important movements was to sign the disciple of Adrian Newey at Red Bull, Dan Fallows, an engineer who has been in F1 since 2002 and who spent in the energy team 15 years. The recruitment was not easy. The Englishman had a contract until mid-2023 (in F1 these kinds of agreements end in the summer because it is at this time that the teams start working on the following year’s car and thus prevent those who leave from having information). Both companies negotiated the termination of the contract, which took place in January 2022, but it was not until April that it could be incorporated. It is what is called, the English say, spending a period of “gardening”, that is, being at home taking care of the garden, without working for anyone. At one point, you even agree that they can see your emails and some mobile phone communications to avoid espionage. Because last Sunday, Helmut Marko, responsible for Red Bull, dropped that the Aston Martin was a copy of his car. However, he cannot prove it because Fallows complied with the established “gardening” period.
[[H3:El «Spygate»]]
This rule was imposed in 2007 with the case of spying on Ferrari by McLaren. an engineer from MaranelloNigel Stepneypassed the information on to a colleague, Mike Coughlan, from McLaren, who sent his wife to photocopy a 780-page manual with the design keys of the Ferrari of that season. The person in charge of the copy shop, “Ferrarista”, sounded the alarm and in the end the case ended up exploding with severe sanctions for McLaren and both engineers, and others such as Alonso, De la Rosa or Hamilton declaring and acknowledging in the FIA that they knew of this information. The Spanish pilots were exonerated for their collaboration.
keys
-Aston Martin technical director, Dan Fallows, arrived in April 2022 after spending 15 years as a designer at Red Bull.
-Six months passed “at home” without being able to work, theoretically, for another team.
-He has complied with what was required by the FIA, but it is clear that he took the concept with him. Red Bull he will try to find some loophole that could accuse him of espionage.
