Fernando Alonso has lashed back at suggestions Aston Martin is racing a 'copy' of Red Bull's title-winning Formula 1 car.
The engine, transmission and rear suspension of this year's surprisingly-competitive Aston Martin is supplied by Mercedes.
But Red Bull team figures have alleged that Aston Martin's big aerodynamic step for 2023 is because the Silverstone based team copied Red Bull's 2022 car concept.
"I don't care about the comments at all," two-time champion Alonso, third in Bahrain, told Spanish media in Jeddah.
"I'm focused on my team, but you can clearly see at a glance that there are differences between the two cars," the 41-year-old insisted.
When asked to point out the main differences between the Red Bull and Aston Martin, Alonso answered: "Visually they are different.
"An example of this is that Mercedes says that 50 percent of our car is theirs and Red Bull says that 50 percent of the car is theirs. But there can be no more different concepts than those two.
"That clearly indicates that neither of the two theories is true," he added.
"We have a different concept than those two cars, although it is true that visually all the cars look a bit alike. The Ferrari, the Haas and the Alfa Romeo look very similar to each other.
"And to tell you the truth, I would say that the car most similar to ours is the Alpine - with the sidepods like that with the tunnels."
Alonso says Red Bull and Mercedes' respective reactions to the huge improvement made by Aston Martin over the winter is simply because they are surprised.
"All the teams struggle with the budget limit now, trying to improve here and there," he explained. "So when they see another that improves two seconds or a second, they have to look for how it is possible.
"But in a way it's good, because it is praise for the work we have done."
Alonso is quoted by Sky Italia: "We had courage during the winter with our project. Dan Fallows was very determined.
"But we also need to stay calm because we're curious to know if the same thing will happen here as happened in Bahrain.
"The fast corners and the straights were our weak points in Bahrain and it's all about that here," Alonso said in Saudi Arabia, "so perhaps we will get a negative surprise."
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