Red Bull makes honest confession about missing Adrian Newey

Red Bull Racing's performance saw a downward trajectory in the second half of the 2024 F1 season at the same time as Adrian Newey's abrupt exit. Helmut Marko, the senior advisor, meanwhile, believed that his team was indeed missing a big name like Newey.

Adrian Newey is one of the most celebrated design engineers in F1, with 40 years of experience under his belt. Out of those four decades, he spent two in Milton Keynes with the Bulls.

Under his role as Chief Technical Officer, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen won four world championships each, and the team also clinched six Constructors titles. However, Newey moved out of Christian Horner's team this year after announcing his exit in May 2024.

Since the second half of the 2024 F1 season, the Bulls' performance hasn't been satisfactory. Moreover, the timing of the team's drop in performance coincided with Newey's exit, which led to speculations of the veteran engineer's absence being the main reason behind Red Bull's downfall.

Meanwhile, when OE24 asked the same query of the team's senior advisor and motorsport director Helmut Marko, he said:

"Of course, we're missing a man like that. A Newey is a Newey. But we're a team of almost 1,000 people. The crew behind him was built up gradually."

After Newey left the Bulls to join Aston Martin, technical director Pierre Wache succeeded him. The team refused to do any external hiring and instead focused on international promotion. For instance, Verstappen's race engineer was being promoted to head of racing.

Soon after Adrian Newey bid farewell to Red Bull, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley also exited the team to join Sauber as team principal, breaking his 18-year-long partnership with the Milton Keynes-based team.

Since key personnel have left, the team's performance, particularly in 2025, has seen a massive dip.

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F1 analyst rates Red Bull as the 10th fastest team

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen [L] with his race engineer [R] - Source: Getty

Red Bull Racing has lost both the races in the 2025 season so far, with Max Verstappen being the only driver to score points for the team. Moreover, the team sacked Liam Lawson and offered his seat to Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda.

Amid the team's downward trend, former F1 strategy engineer Bernie Collins has rated the Milton Keynes-based squad as the 10th fastest team on the grid.

Talking to Sky Sports F1, Collins said:

“If Max leaves or doesn't show up at a race, they are currently the 10th fastest team. I was criticized last year for saying, when Checo was there, that if Max didn't turn up for the race, they were the fourth fastest team. But at the minute, they’re 10th fastest.”

Collins also argued that the RB series cars are built around Verstappen's driving style. Hence, his teammates, who possibly couldn’t adjust to that setting, failed to perform and match the Dutchman's standards.