07/09/2024
NEWS STORY
Helmut Marko has denied that Red Bull's ongoing slump is linked to Adrian Newey's departure from the team.
While Max Verstappen is at a loss to understand how his race-winning car has turned into a "monster" and Christian Horner points to correlation issues, most feel that Adrian Newey's departure from the Austrian team has had a significant effect.
If nothing else, under normal circumstances, the design guru would have listened to the feedback of the drivers and offered a solution, whereas at present the Austrian team appears to be in free fall.
Zandvoort saw Red Bull struggling, but at Monza it was on the ropes, beaten by Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes.
The likes of Zak Brown cite the Horner saga as being at the heart of the unrest within the team that preceded the departure of Newey and Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley, as he continues to claim the he is being bombarded by employees seeking to jump from what they perceive to be a sinking ship.
In his regular column for Speedweek, Marko denies that Newey's departure is the cause of the current slump.
"Of course, there is an opinion among fans that our relapse has something to do with Adrian Newey's departure," he writes. "But that is not true because Newey was no longer involved in all the details of the vehicle development in the spring.
"What cannot be denied, of course, is that Newey is Newey, a man with incredible experience, and that has always distinguished him. But our problem lies elsewhere.
"The examples of Mercedes and, to a lesser extent, Ferrari have shown how difficult things are when dealing with these wing cars," he adds.
"We have taken a car that dominated the first few races and turned it into a more or less unpredictable and very difficult car to drive," he admits, revealing that the RB20 is extremely sensitive to even the smallest of changes.
"We explain these performance fluctuations within minutes by saying that we have created a car that is extremely sensitive to the smallest changes , be it the outside temperature, a different tyre compound or less fuel on board. And then the good balance of the car is gone.
"But I remain optimistic," he insists, "we have a very broad technical team and I am convinced that we can solve this problem. The key question now is: how do we go about finding the good vehicle balance from the first part of the season?"
A major upgrade package aimed at turning things around is in the pipeline, but it is unlikely to appear until the United States Grand Prix at COTA, meaning that Red Bull and Verstappen will have to take the pain in Azerbaijan and Singapore, assuming that the upgrade works when it does arrive.
Of course, the Horner saga put the team in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and rivals were quick to seize on the opportunity to use it to their advantage to help destabilise the Austrian outfit, a tactic which outwardly appears to be working.