Is Newey's departure the reason for Red Bull demise? Horner responds!
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- Cas van de Kleut
Red Bull Racing are in big trouble. The Austrian racing team no longer resembles the team that dominated Formula 1 in the past two years. The RB20 was again not fast enough at Monza, and Max Verstappen has already voiced his concerns. Did the departure of Adrian Newey possibly play a role in Red Bull's reversal of dominance? Team boss Christian Horner responded to that question to GPblog and others after the Italian Grand Prix.
Many saw Newey as the mastermind behind the Red Bull cars. Therefore, it was big news when the top designer announced he was leaving the Austrian racing team. After the Brit's departure, things went downhill for the team.
Is Newey's departure a major factor in the Red Bull situation?
According to Horner, however, the disappeared dominance is not due to Newey's departure: "I think it 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. This started to really highlight itself in Miami. Adrian was plugged in up until Friday of Miami. So there's no way it would have impacted so quickly."
When Horner was then asked if Newey might have seen his departure as a way out of the situation, he replied: "Well, he'd be working with all the same people. Formula One is a team sport. It's a team, it's a team issue. And the team will come up with the resolution".
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton