Adrian Newey, the legendary racing car designer and one of the co-authors of numerous Red Bull Racing victories, who has been mentioned more than once in recent days in the context of the ‘Christian Horner affair’, has already assured the team that he will continue to work even if the permanent leader has to leave his post.
But the scandalous and strange story centering on Horner is not the only thing the Red Bull team is concerned about now. According to Newey, the new RB20 may not be nearly as fast as its predecessor, so it is unlikely to repeat last year’s record.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez went on to win 21 of the 22 races, setting a new Formula 1 record: the ratio of victories to the total number of stages was 95.4%. McLaren’s previous performance, no less impressive, had been standing since 1988, but was still slightly less: 93.7%.
“Our car will be the third evolution of the RB18 (2022 chassis),” Newey told the Talking Bulls podcast. “We don’t know if we made the right choice or if it will prove too conservative compared to the previous model and what our rivals have achieved.
The question was: should we organize a special working group to evaluate some new ideas, or should we continue on the same course?
The resources available to the team are limited and we cannot afford to do everything at once. That’s why we decided to upgrade the car we already have, and I just hope it was the right choice.
Last year we won all the races except the Singapore Grand Prix, but by the end of the season everyone was literally hanging on our tail. The pressure has clearly increased. In Austin, for example, we almost lost when we took a risk and made an extra pit stop, but Verstappen still brought things to a victorious end. And in Las Vegas, Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari was the fastest on the track, but even in that situation Max was at his best and distinguished himself again.”
Before us lies a season consisting of a record number of stages – for the first time in Formula 1 history there will be 24. The events that will take place on the World Cup circuits from March to December will show to what extent the concerns of Adrian Newey and his colleagues are justified.
The presentation of the RB20, Red Bull Racing’s new car, is scheduled for February 15.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
