F1 Q&A: Can Red Bull and Max Verstappen recover from loss in form?

Does Red Bull’s downturn in form coincide with the departure of their chief technical officer Adrian Newey? – Steve

Yes, it does. But that’s not the question – the question is, has it been caused by it? Correlation and causation are not necessarily the same thing.

The statistics make for interesting reading.

Newey is still employed by Red Bull. But his last race working in any capacity on F1 was Miami, back in early May.

Verstappen’s average finishing position for the races up to and including Miami, not including retirements, was 1.2. Since then, it is 3.3. In qualifying, he was averaging first up to Miami and 3.1 since.

As for team-mate Sergio Perez, race results up to Miami were an average of third, since then it is 8.5. In qualifying, it was 2.9, since then 11th.

Those numbers are stark.

But is this caused by Newey’s departure? Verstappen was asked whether Newey’s role changing had had an influence on results on Thursday in Monza.

He said: “Normally not. Since it was announced, it has been more difficult but it shouldn’t matter if someone is leaving on the spot that immediately the performance drops, because the car has always been the same.”

After the race Verstappen was asked the same question, and his answer was slightly different in tone.

“I’ve always said I would have liked Adrian to stay,” Verstappen said. “Always. But it’s not about that now. Last year we had a great car, that was the most dominant car ever, and we basically turned it into a monster, so we have to turn it around.”

Team principal Christian Horner was also asked whether losing Newey had had any impact on the fact Red Bull had lost their way with the car.

He said: “I think we would have had all these issues because they were already there, and one man’s input could never be so dramatic so quickly. This started to really highlight itself in Miami, and Adrian was plugged in up until Friday of Miami.”

The point, though, is that Newey has not been plugged in since. It was put to Horner that perhaps Newey might have been able to see a way out of Red Bull’s problems sooner.

Horner said: “Well, he’d be working with all the same people. F1 is a team sport, it’s a team issue and the team will come up with a resolution.”

There can, of course, be no definitive answer.

But Red Bull have lost the skills of the greatest designer in F1 history, a unique insight into the impact of aerodynamics on an F1 car. A man who also has renowned talent as a race engineer, and a refined understanding of exactly what a racing driver needs from a car to be fast.

It’s hard to imagine that has had no impact at all.