Horner rubbishes ‘dramatic’ Newey suggestion

Christian Horner has dismissed suggestions Adrian Newey could have prevented Red Bull’s performance decline.

The team principal has quashed the idea that had Newey not resigned before the Miami Grand Prix then Red Bull’s situation would be different.

Newey will leave the Milton Keynes team in early 2025 and is set to join Aston Martin, with an announcement due next week.

The 65-year-old has already stepped back from F1 activities, a move that has coincided with Red Bull unearthing increasingly serious issues with the RB20.

As highlighted at Monza, there are problems with the aerodynamics of the car, resulting in a disconnected balance between the front and rear, steadily worsening as the team has ported upgrades to it throughout the year.

“I think we would have had all of these issues, because the issues were already there, and one man’s input could never be so dramatic, so quickly,” Horner told media including RacingNews365.

“This started to highlight itself in Miami, and Adrian [Newey] was plugged in up until Friday of Miami, so there’s no way it would have impacted so quickly.”

As its rivals, particularly McLaren, have successfully developed their cars, Red Bull has been unable to keep pace in the update race.

This has led to contrasting fortunes for the team between the opening third of the season and the most recent eight rounds.

After Monaco, Max Verstappen had taken victory in five of the eight grands prix, and whilst he won the two subsequent rounds, he is now winless in the last six.

The Dutchman’s drivers’ championship lead is just 62 points and on its current trajectory, Lando Norris will succeed in wrestling the crown from him by season’s end.

The situation in the constructors’ standings is even more bleak, with Red Bull retaining a mere eight-point advantage over the fast-charging McLaren team.

To Horner, however, the fall was inevitable once the issues were detected, and not something Newey could have immediately solved.

When it was put to him that Newey may have been able to see a way out of the problem quicker, he replied: “Well, he’d be working with all the same people. Formula 1 is a team sport.

“It’s a team issue and the team will come up with a resolution.”