Former Red Bull senior engineer Dan Fallows has finally joined Aston Martin following a legal battle with Red Bull over his contract termination.
After a contract disagreement with Red Bull which prevented Dan Fallows from leaving the Milton Keynes based outfit, he has finally joined Aston Martin.
Fallows agreed to join Aston Martin this year and handed Red Bull notice to terminate his contract early.
The 2021 drivers’ championship winners insisted, though, that his contract would not expire until 2023, thus team principal Christian Horner declared at the Austrian Grand Prix last year that he would continue with his team until then.
“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 (2020), 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,” he added.
“Fallows remains a Red Bull Technology employee,” the Red Bull team later stated.
Fallows’ representatives informed the judge that there had been precedent of other employees departing after giving their notice, but Mr Justice Linden found that the circumstances on both parties were different.
The two parties eventually reached an agreement outside of court, with Red Bull agreeing to release their head of aerodynamics to Aston Martin come April 2022.
The Silverstone based squad were pleased to announce Fallows’ move: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Red Bull which releases Dan early from his contract and are looking forward to him joining the team.”
Red Bull on the other hand announced Fallows departure to Aston Martin: “We would like to thank Dan for his many years of excellent service and wish him well for the future.”
Fallows expressed his gratitude for his experience with Red Bull, but he is now looking forward to a new adventure.
“I’ve enjoyed many happy years at Red Bull Racing and am proud of what we achieved,” said Fallows. “I am looking forward to next season and a new challenge.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, Fallows started working for Aston Martin earlier this month. The British engineer is anticipated to work closely with Aston Martin’s chief technical officer Andy Green as the company tries to turn its fortunes around after a difficult start to the 2022 season.