"Given them a pretty good run for their money": When Adrian Newey opined if Red Bull could have challenged Mercedes with a better engine in the V6 era

Red Bull Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey recently claimed that the outfit could have given Mercedes a 'run for their money' in the Turbo-Hybrid era with a better engine.

The Austrian team lost their dominant streak in the sport to Mercedes at the start of new engine regulations in 2014 and could only recover the mantle in the regulations of 2022. Red Bull was badly hampered in their competitiveness due to their unreliable engines from Renault in the early years of the Turbo-Hybrid era.

While appearing on the Beyond the Grid podcast in 2023, Adrian Newey mentioned that the team had a comparable chassis to Mercedes and could have run them close with a better engine. He said:

"Yes, I think we probably could have done. All credit to Mercedes on the chassis side. They obviously had a great run. There were some years where arguably we had the better chassis."

He added:

"There were other years where they definitely had the better chassis, but we would have certainly given them a pretty good run for their money I think."

Red Bull CTO explains his dilemma in the 2014 season with Renault engines

Adrian Newey shared that he got pretty close to exiting Red Bull when Renault was supplying them with unreliable engines in the 2014 season.

As per the source mentioned above, the Red Bull CTO spoke about disillusionment with the sport after he met with the Renault boss. He said:

"I really didn't want to leave, but we were in this position where Renault hadn't produced a competitive engine in the turbo hybrid era, which happens in the first year when there are new rules. We all make mistakes. But we went to see Carlos Ghosn, then the boss of Renault, to put pressure on him to up the budget and basically ask if he could free up more resources so the engine division could accelerate their program."

He added:

"They were understandably saying they were resource-limited and they needed more people and more money. Ghosn’s reply was ‘Well, I have no interest in Formula 1. I’m only in it because my marketing people say I should be.’ That was such a depressing place to be. We knew Mercedes wouldn't give us an engine."

Red Bull was eventually able to drop the French manufacturer at the end of the 2018 season and switch to Honda, who's engines were far more competetive and allowed them to return to their glory years recently.