Red Bull Racing won't make life easy for Aston Martin by releasing its head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows before the end of his contract with the Milton Keynes-based outfit which runs until mid-2023.
Last month, Aston Martin announced that it had hired Fallows who has spent 15 years at Red Bull, leading the team's aero department since 2014, as Team Silverstone's future technical director.
At the time of the announcement, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that Fallows would see out his current contract, insisting the release would not take place "for a couple of years".
But last weekend in Austria, Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer alluded to impending talks with Red Bull that would hopefully lead to Fallows early release.
"[We will talk] either now or in the near future," he said. "I haven't planned anything but when we've got more time, that's for sure [going to happen]. It's been a busy few weeks."
However, Red Bull, which has also lost aerodynamicist Andrew Alessi to Aston Martin, seems determined to keep its aero engineer on a tight leash for as long as it legally can.
"Our situation with Dan is really clear: he's working on the [2021] car, he is working on next year's car," said Horner.
"He's still got a significant amount of time. He only signed the contract at the end of last year, so there's a significant period of time before mid-2023 comes up.
"We'll obviously keep him busy during the rest of his contract."
Horner's hardline approach could also be destined to encourage Aston Martin of offer a financial compensation for Red Bull amending the terms of Fallow's contract.
In Austria, Szafnauer said that Aston was still on track to almost double its staff, with several nominations for senior positions soon to be revealed.
"We’ve grown from 405 people, we’re almost at 550 now, and we’ve got plans to grow to above 750," said the American.
"It’s still a work in progress and there are a few more senior positions we are looking to fill, some of which we’ve filled and will announce soon."
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