Christian Horner Admits Red Bull Issues Went Back Further Than Adrian Newey Realized

Saajan Jogia | Feb 22, 2025

Christian Horner and Adrian Newey / Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has addressed former chief technical officer Adrian Newey's comments on how the team handled issues with the RB20 F1 car last season, attributing the struggles to a "lack of experience."

Newey claimed that Red Bull initially dismissed the problem when it first emerged but struggled to manage it after his departure in May, as the car’s balance issues began to impact Max Verstappen.

The 2024 season began with Red Bull maintaining its dominant form from 2023, as Verstappen secured victory in seven of the first ten Grands Prix. However, the team's performance gradually declined. Sergio Perez was the first to struggle, with Red Bull initially attributing it to a dip in form. But as McLaren gained momentum and the RB20's balance issue worsened, the four-time world champion began experiencing its effects after the summer break.

Eventually, it was too late by the time Red Bull addressed the problems on the RB20, leading it to lose the top two positions in the Constructors' Championship to McLaren and Ferrari in the same order. F1 on SI reported Newey's remarks on the matter, who said that he noticed a hint of the car problem towards the end of the 2023 season, which worsened with time. He said:

"Already through the very last stages of '23, the car was starting to become more difficult to drive. Of course that suited Max – he could handle that, if you like. It didn't suit him, but he could handle it. Checo couldn't.

"So we also started through '23 to see more of a difference in performance between team-mates Max and Checo. That carried into the first part of '24, but the car was still quick enough to be able to cope with it.

"It's something I was starting to become concerned about, but not many other people in the organisation seemed to be very concerned about it.

"And from what I can see from the outside, but I don't know… The 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."

Horner revealed that he hadn't read Newey's take on the challenge but spoke on similar lines by acknowledging that the problem existed in 2023. He said:

"I haven't seen those comments.

"But the issues are more deep-rooted than last year, I think when you dig into the data and some of the characteristics, you start to see them much earlier, and definitely during 2023. 

"It was a matter of unravelling it to understand what were the contributing factors to having peaky performance and that it is where the team has worked very hard to understand and address it."

Newey parted ways with Red Bull to sign with Aston Martin. He will join the Silverstone outfit as managing technical partner and shareholder on March 3.