Newey stated that Red Bull wasn't "too concerned" about the decline.

      Adrian Newey has indicated that issues he identified with Red Bull’s 2024 car weren't promptly addressed by the team's management. During the internal conflict and power struggles at the team last year, Newey, a highly regarded technical figure in Formula 1 history, chose to depart. This coincided with a noticeable decline in Red Bull's performance, leading to McLaren and Ferrari overtaking them in the constructors’ championship.

      "Part of it was due to McLaren, particularly, and Ferrari also doing a great job in developing their cars," Newey, who is now with Aston Martin, told Auto Motor und Sport. "However, from my observations at Red Bull, the 2024 car - and even in the later part of 2023 - was becoming increasingly challenging to handle," the 66-year-old noted.

      Despite this, Max Verstappen managed to clinch his fourth straight drivers’ world championship, while Sergio Perez's performance fell so significantly that he ultimately lost his seat for 2025. "Max was still able to drive it," Newey explained. "It wasn’t ideal for him, but he could manage it. Checo? No.

      "We had already begun to notice a wider performance gap between Max and Checo in 2023, which carried on into the early part of 2024. Nonetheless, the car was still quick enough to handle it. However, it was something that was starting to concern me, even if not many others in the organization seemed too worried," the British engineer admitted.

      Once Newey stopped contributing to Red Bull’s car development, the situation deteriorated significantly, though it did improve somewhat toward the season's end. A captivating four-way competition among McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes is now developing for 2025.

      "From what I could perceive from outside, and I don't mean this as a criticism," Newey commented, "it seemed that the Red Bull team perhaps due to inexperience kept heading in the same direction. The issue became increasingly severe to the extent that even Max found it tough to drive."

      Newey emphasizes that it wasn’t simply about losing control of the car’s optimal configuration. "I'm not referring to the setup," he clarified. "What I mean is that while the setup can conceal problems to some degree, the underlying issues remain present."