According to former team boss Frans Verschuur, Adrian Newey is no longer as valuable to Red Bull Racing as is often thought. The 65-year-old master designer of the constructors’ champion is widely praised for his role in designing the dominant Red Bull cars of recent years, but Verschuur would rather see Newey go. The Dutch analyst also discussed the contenders as Max Verstappen’s teammate.
Verschuur was present as a guest F1 at the Table, where he looked back on the Grand Prix weekend in China. Attention was also paid to the crash caused by Lance Stroll. ‘It’s difficult to get Stroll out of that seat. He has the power that his father runs the mess. He makes too many mistakes.’ Verschuur is particularly bothered by the fact that the Canadian said afterwards that the punishment was nonsense. ‘That’s the whole problem, that he doesn’t understand the game. He might have to go to school for that. The tires were cold, and he also braked on the white line.’
Red Bull doesn’t need Sainz
Stroll is in a seat as long as his father is the owner of the team, but Verschuur still agrees with an idea that former team owner Eddie Jordan previously suggested: two Spaniards at Aston Martin. “I would like to see Carlos Sainz driving next to Fernando Alonso,” says the 70-year-old. ‘The Strolls out, and then they also get support from Honda.’
‘The Japanese are of course disappointed that they are leaving Red Bull Racing, so they are fully committed to making a good engine. Red Bull will also be disappointed, now that they know that Honda will continue, but when Red Bull decided to start its own business, Honda said that they would stop. Then all those successes came, and Honda continued anyway,” Verschuur reflects.
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According to Helmut Marko, Sainz would have received a rather lucrative offer from Audi, and Verschuur sees no reason why Red Bull should enter into a battle for the Spaniard. ‘They have a certain budget at Red Bull. Sainz can ask whatever he wants, but if he is also going to ask for forty or fifty million… They also already have Max Verstappen, who can fill in a blank check. Don’t they already have the champion with that? Then put Alexander Albon or someone like that next, but I would just keep Sergio Pérez. It’s doing well, isn’t it? It’s not that expensive either. He found out that he is the second driver. He’s had a nice swing of form.”
‘Newey’s time has passed’
The former team boss also discussed Red Bull Powertrains, Red Bull’s engine project, and the situation at Mercedes. ‘The problem at Mercedes is that a few people have been bought away. Toto Wolff is of course sick of that. Those people who were supposed to build the car are gone. One or two people have left, and that is the problem’, points out Verschuur, who then makes a strong statement. ‘Then they can buy Adrian Newey, but he is no longer there. It has been there, it is still there in name only. Let them go, then they will at least save wages at Red Bull.’
Newey has been with Red Bull since 2006 and has contributed to its many successes, but Verschuur thinks that Pierre Waché is now more important. ‘Send that away, because Waché is the man who builds the car, not Newey. He walks around there to be a bit Newey, and nothing else,” says the outspoken Verschuur. ‘His time has also passed. Just as you think Hamilton’s time has passed, I think Newey’s time has passed, and I think someone else is doing his job.’ Earlier, Michael Schmidt, journalist from the German Auto, Motor, und Sport, also indicated that Newey might leave the Formula 1 team, because Red Bull is faced with an increasing wage burden after its many successes.
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