Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Newey\u2014who will officially leave Red Bull in early 2025 before starting his new role as Managing Technical Partner at Aston Martin on March 1\u2014expressed concerns about the team\u2019s development trajectory and how they allowed the car\u2019s handling issues to escalate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Red Bull entered the 2024 season as the reigning champions after a record-breaking 2023 campaign, where Max Verstappen secured 19 wins out of 20 races, and the team dominated both the Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championships.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The new season began in a similar fashion, with Verstappen winning seven of the first ten races. However, as the season progressed, rivals McLaren and Ferrari rapidly closed the gap, leading to a dramatic shift in the competitive order.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
While Verstappen clinched his fourth consecutive Drivers\u2019 Championship, McLaren ultimately snatched the Constructors\u2019 title, with Ferrari also overtaking Red Bull for second place in the standings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Newey pointed out that Red Bull\u2019s RB20 began showing signs of handling difficulties even in the latter part of the 2023 season, and the problem continued into 2024.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI think Red Bull, from what I could see, the \u201924 car and even through the very last stages of \u201923, was starting to become more difficult to drive,\u201d Newey said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
While Verstappen managed to cope with the car\u2019s tricky characteristics, teammate Sergio Perez struggled significantly, leading to a growing performance gap between the two drivers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cMax could handle that; it didn\u2019t suit him, but he could handle it. Checo [Sergio Perez] couldn\u2019t, so you started seeing more of a difference in performance between the teammates.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Newey admitted that he had been concerned about the issue, but suggested that Red Bull\u2019s inexperience in handling such challenges may have led to them persisting with a flawed development path.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I was starting to become concerned about, but not many people in the organisation seemed to be very concerned. From what I can see from the outside\u2014but I don\u2019t know\u2014the guys at Red Bull, this is no criticism, but I think they just perhaps through lack of experience kept going in that same direction, and the problem became more and more acute to the point that even Max found it difficult to drive.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Newey was also asked whether Red Bull might have tried to solve the driveability problems through set-up changes rather than a more fundamental redesign. While he acknowledged that set-up adjustments can help to an extent, he stressed that they cannot fully resolve underlying design flaws.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cSet-up can mask problems to an extent, but the problem is still there,\u201d he explained. \u201cTo me, set-up is simply optimizing the characteristics of the car\u2026 but it\u2019s mainly about complementing those characteristics rather than fixing a fundamental issue.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
His comments suggest that Red Bull\u2019s struggles in 2024 were not just about rivals catching up but also about internal missteps in handling the RB20\u2019s growing driveability concerns.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cSet-up can mask problems to an extent, but the problem is still there,\u201d he explained. \u201cTo me, set-up is simply optimizing the characteristics of the car\u2026 but it\u2019s mainly about complementing those characteristics rather than fixing a fundamental issue.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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