Marko denies theory over Red Bull F1 slump

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has denied Adrian Newey’s exit from the team is a key reason behind the team’s lacklustre performances of late.

Newey announced early on in the current campaign that he would be leaving the Red Bull company in early 2025 and would take an immediate step back from involvement in the RB20 car.

Red Bull commenced the season in strong fashion but has struggled for performance of late, with McLaren narrowing the gap in the championship to just eight points after last weekend’s event fro Monza.

Max Verstappen has not stood atop the podium since the Spanish Grand Prix in June as Red Bull seek answers to the woes it has faced.

Writing in his column for Speedweek, Marko declared Newey’s exit is not linked to the team’s decline in form.

“Of course, fans are circulating the opinion that our relapse has something to do with Adrian Newey’s departure,” Marko said. 

“But that is not true. Newey was no longer involved in all the details of vehicle development in the spring.

“Of course, this cannot be denied: Newey is Newey, a man with incredible experience, which has always distinguished him. But our problem lies elsewhere. 

“The examples of Mercedes and, to a lesser extent, Ferrari have shown how difficult teams are when dealing with these wing cars.”

Marko backs Red Bull to re-find form

Verstappen declared after the race from Monza last weekend that it is not realistic for Red Bull to win both titles this year.

However, Marko is confident Red Bull can fix its concerns and return to a competitive position in order to fend off McLaren’s title push.

“But I remain optimistic: we have a very broad technical team and I am convinced that we can solve this problem,” he said.

“The key question now is: how do we go about finding the good vehicle balance from the first part of the season? 

“Max Verstappen said in Monza that he did not need twenty points more downforce if it made the car undrivable. 

“So we have to rebuild and hopefully find the point where the car was in balance. If we manage that, the car’s behaviour will be predictable again, the drivers will gain new confidence and will be able to contribute ideally again.

“Of course, that’s a difficult task because we’ve put a lot of new parts on the car since then. Simply put – we have to find out where we went wrong technically.”