It has emerged in the Formula 1 paddock that Adrian Newey has had nothing to do with the Red Bull RB20 since April, which might explain why the form of their triple World Champion Max Verstappen has plummeted so badly in recent months.
At the time when the Red Bull RB20 was launched, we did not know it would be Newey's last design for the team. Notable, it was hot out of the box. So 'hot' in fact, we expected a repeat of the 2023 F1 season, in which Red Bull won 22 out of 23 races. Verstappen, bagging 19 of them
This season started well. The seven victories in ten races seemed a repeat was going to happen, but evidence that something was coming was the manner in which Sergio Perez lost the plot with the car and his form nosedived.
Of late, Verstappen is perhaps feeling what Perez might have felt in the car. He simply can't drive at the limit like he could with the previous version. I've never witnessed a winning car fall off the cliff in such an alarming manner.
Newey hasn't had a say in the car since April (around the Chinese GP), it would seem. You'd imagine there'd be his influence over a couple of months thereafter, let's say, until the Spanish Grand Prix, which was the occasion of Verstappen's last victory.
The Red Bull RB20 is simply not the machine it was at the beginning of the season
Without Newey's input, the car probably has not evolved in the manner or speed that their rivals have done, particularly McLaren and Ferrari.
Of all the journalists following the story, Ted Kravitz had a heads-up on everyone throughout the Newey-to-Aston Martin saga. Many thought a deal was done, with the great F1 designer set to move to Ferrari. But then Lawrence Stroll broke the bank apparently, and Newey will be donning green and on the pit wall as soon as the Australian Grand Prix next year, according to the Sky F1 pundit.
Of Newey's plans, which Kravitz seems to have an inside line on, Kravitz said: "His first race for Aston Martin will be the Australian Grand Prix, the season opener for 2025. We don't expect Adrian Newey to be at any more races before that point.
"Talking to some people at Red Bull, I don't think Adrian is going to be... There's maybe a plan for him to be in Austin, but I'm not sure that's going to happen now, even to sell the RB17," he added, referencing the Hypercar project.
As for the demise of the Red Bull RB20, Kravitz revealed: "Adrian Newey says, 'I don't know what happened to this year's RB20, because I haven't been involved in the car since April'."
Looking ahead, it's hard to believe that Newey won't have an influence (at least a word in the tech department's direction) on the Aston Martin AMR25 despite the fact that he's being hired to design the AMR26 for the 2026 F1 season.
Horner was wrong to underplay the departures of Newey and Wheatley
Whatever the case, it's increasingly apparent that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner's words to the effect that the team is big enough to absorb the losses of top talent may be way off the mark and miscalculated the importance Newey has been to the team since its inception two decades ago.
Red Bull's top brain drain does not stop there. Jonathan Whitney's departure will also have a seismic effect on how the team has operated. News is that Gianpiero Lambiase will take over Wheatley's sporting role within the team while maintaining his role as engineer Chief of Staff.
This debunks Horner's claim that Red Bull has strength in depth to fill in for the high-level departures. The question that has to be asked is: Why is Lambiase doing arguably the two most important jobs in the team?
No matter which way you look at it and how the kings of spin—Red Bull—try to control the narrative, the reality is the team is in a shambles relative not only to their exceptional last year but also to their early season form when Newey still had influence.
Things are getting no better in Singapore this weekend. The one race Red Bull did not win last year. Verstappen ended FP2 down in P15, 1.3s down on the top time of the day set by his closest title rival Lando Norris in the McLaren.
Perez in P8 at the wheel of the other Red Bull was half a second faster than Verstappen, which suggests the Dutch ace is keeping his powder very dry (unlikely) or there's something seriously amiss with the F1 World Championship leader.
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