Lance Stroll has laughed off claims this weekend that Aston Martin have copied Red Bull's car design, saying that if they had they'd be a lot nearer the front of the grid.

Stroll and Sebastian Vettel have taken their new-look AMR22 for a spin for the first time this weekend here in Barcelona, with the team unveiling a totally overhauled sidepod design - with that just one of a multitude of new car tweaks we have seen up and down the pitlane.

However, only Aston have sparked debate around their changes, with Red Bull feeling as though it might be more than sheer coincidence that the two cars now look a fair bit more similar in that particular area than they did earlier in the campaign.

In fairness to Aston, the FIA have completely cleared and approved the concept and their Chief Technical Officer Andy Green said that it was in the pipeline from as early as 2021, with the team deciding to adopt a dual approach to the car heading into the start of this season and they have now decided to switch paths.

Even so, Formula 1 is a game that quickly gets cut-throat and amid Red Bull's concerns, the two Aston drivers were naturally asked about what they thought on the situation.

Stroll, who qualified 18th with Sebastian Vettel in 16th for Sunday's Grand Prix, though, found the funny side of such a theory:

“What position is Red Bull? We’d be two seconds faster if it was a copy," he joked with the gathered media here in Barcelona on Saturday.

“I’ve been really struggling with the balance of the car and not getting to grips with it all weekend.

“It’s a completely different aero package, ride heights, set-ups, a lot of things change, we have to see or if we missed something or we could have done something differently.

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MAY 20: Lance Stroll of Canada driving the (18) Aston Martin AMR22 Mercedes on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on May 20, 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

“I hope we missed something. Last race we were in Q3 and now we’re out of Q1 so miles off the pace. We have to figure out why."

Stroll and Vettel will both be looking to climb the running order this afternoon at the Spanish Grand Prix but it's obviously going to take some time for them to get to grips with their new-look car.