Former Red Bull Racing design chief Adrian Newey made headlines this week by blaming "inexperience" for the team’s dip in form last season. But do his comments raise more questions than answers?
Through the second half of 2024, Red Bull were out-developed by eventual Formula 1 constructors’ champions McLaren, with Ferrari also catching up significantly. Newey (who was still head of design at the time) is said to have been “concerned” about the team's development direction, with the car becoming increasingly difficult to drive on the limit.
But these worries weren't shared by his colleagues, and they continued on this course despite starting to slip down the pecking order. Was there discord within the team? After all, during the timeline Newey was pointing to, he was still the tech boss in Milton Keynes. Was that one of the reasons he decided to leave the team?
Or has the British design guru, who is joining Aston Martin for 2025, started playing mind games ahead of the new F1 season?
Newey said: “I think Red Bull, from what I could see, the car was – already the ’24 car and through the very last stages of ’23 as well, I would say – starting to become more difficult to drive. And of course Max [Verstappen] could handle that if you like, it didn’t suit him but he could handle it.
“Checo [Sergio Perez] couldn’t, so you also started through [the] ’23 season to see more of a difference in performance between the teammates, Max and Checo. That carried into the first part of ’24 but the car was still quick enough to be able to cope with it.
“It’s something I was starting to become concerned about, but not many of the people in the organisation seemed to be very concerned about.
“From what I can see from the outside – but I don’t know – the guys at Red Bull, this is no criticism but I think they just perhaps through lack of experience kept going in that same direction, and the problem became more and more acute to the point that even Max found it difficult to drive," Newey added.
Drivability still an issue for Red Bull in 2025?
Initially, Verstappen's firmer grip on the RB20 allowed him to pull out a lead in the F1 drivers' standings, winning seven of the first ten races.
This established enough of a points cushion to secure him a fourth F1 world championship. But Perez’s difficulty keeping up cost Red Bull the constructors’ crown.
The outfit's struggles in the second half of the 2024 season have left them heading into 2025 on the back foot. Ahead of the new campaign, Newey believes the underlying issues with the car haven't yet been resolved and will require more than just setup changes to fix.
He continued: “Set-up can mask problems to an extent, but the problem is still there. To me set-up is more simply optimising the characteristics of the car, and of course then to an extent driver but I think that’s overegged.
“I think it’s mainly to complement the characteristics of the car, and then of course some circuit to circuit variation depending on the nature of the circuit.”
Is F1 struggling to attract experienced engineers?
Interestingly, Newey's comments have drawn a response from ex-Red Bull and Force India engineer Blake Hinsey, who explained on LinkedIn how Red Bull's 'inexperience' issues are down to the cost cap.
Hinsey said: “Unless the team bosses and FIA sit down and have a chat about the cost cap, Formula 1 is in trouble. Adrian Newey didn't really mind mentioning this fact.
“F1 salaries (excluding the top 3) are included in the cost cap. But as far as I know, there have been no adjustments to the cost cap or global policies by teams to adjust for cost of living/inflation since the cost cap came into effect.
“How are you supposed to attract the best engineers for the pinnacle of motorsport engineering when someone can go work in another top-level championship for substantially more money and less travel?” he questioned.
F1’s $135-Million budget cap was designed to level the playing field, but it continues to attract controversy. Red Bull, Aston Martin, Alpine, and Honda have all overspent. Crash damage has also caused many teams to struggle with compliance.
With the cost cap set to rise to $215-Million for 2026, Hinsey claims that F1 teams need to pour more resources into rewarding engineers, as IMSA, WEC, and Formula E colleagues often earn more.
He added: “If you're an F1 team in the cost cap, how are you spending your money? Paying for upgrades or upgrading salaries? (This isn't really a question).
"I am probably missing a lot of nuance, but until the F1 bosses start pushing for frameworks to help secure reasonable salaries for their teams, they are just as good as MBS draining this sport for cash," Hinsey concluded. (Quotes by AMuS and LinkedIn)
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