Newey Spotted Issues with Red Bull at the End of 2023: Lack of Concern Despite Challenges
Adrian Newey, a distinguished figure in Formula 1, observed that the Red Bull car became increasingly difficult to handle towards the end of the 2023 season. Despite the Milton Keynes-based team’s dominant performance that year, winning 21 out of 22 races, Newey noted problems not only with the 2023 car but also with the designs for the following year.
After a strong start in the previous year, Red Bull faced a gradual decline in performance with the RB20. Newey, who has not been involved with the Formula 1 team since late April, shared in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport that the team was not worried about the car’s performance issues, even when Max Verstappen could no longer compensate for them, and Sergio Perez struggled significantly.
“From what I saw in the later stages of the championship and the 2024 project, the cars started to become challenging to handle. Max could manage it—not that it suited him, but he was able to overcome the issues. Checo couldn’t. Moreover, we began to see a growing performance disparity between Max and Checo in 2023,” Newey explained.
“This concern carried into the first half of 2024, but the car was still fast enough to compete. I started to worry, but it seemed like there weren’t many others in the organization who felt the same,” Newey continued. “From an outsider’s perspective—it’s not a criticism, but an observation—it appears that the team, perhaps due to a lack of experience, continued in the same direction. The problem only intensified until even Max could no longer drive the car effectively,” said Newey.
In 2024, it became evident that there were disagreements between Newey and the design team led by Pierre Wache. The RB20 was developed without incorporating some of Newey’s observations. Earlier last year, Newey had suggested that significant changes were necessary because “it was clear that everyone would start copying” the RB19. Subsequent reports indicated that the English designer had objected to some modifications to the car.
