Verstappen unable to rule out impact of Newey exit on Red Bull

Max Verstappen cannot rule out the impact Adrian Newey's departure has had on Red Bull's dramatic drop in form. 

Newey announced his exit as Red Bull chief technical officer earlier this year and will be free to work for another team ahead of the 2026 rules reset with Ferrari and Aston Martin keen to secure his services. 

Red Bull and Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races of the season, but have failed to win any of the five events since the Spanish GP, with the RB20 overhauled as the fastest car by McLaren's MCL38.

The reigning champions find themselves trying to fend off McLaren's challenge with Verstappen now 70 points clear of Lando Norris and the team 30 ahead of the Woking concern in the constructors'. 

When asked if the drop in form of the RB20 had anything to do with Newey's exit, Verstappen was unable to totally dismiss the theory.

"Normally not," said Verstappen, speaking to media including RacingNews365. "It is just since he announced that he was leaving it has been more difficult.

"It shouldn't matter if someone is, say, leaving on the spot and so immediately the performance drops because the car has always been the same.

"So yeah, normally [it wouldn't have an impact]."

When pressed by RacingNews365 if he had contact with Newey, Verstappen confirmed he did but that asking Newey about the RB20 problems would be "unfair."

"Well I mean over the last few weeks not so much, and he has moved office as well," he added.

"But whenever I do see him, we have a good relationship, so that has never been a problem. It would be a bit unfair to [ask him about the problems with the car], but like I said, normally not, but it can be."

Verstappen defiant

Red Bull was handed a drubbing at the Dutch GP by McLaren as Verstappen noted that a repeat of his 19 wins from 22 races in 2023 was never going to happen, but that he felt a little shocked at how big of a challenge the team faces.

"Listen, I just do the best I can. If I win [the title] or not, it's not going to change my life," he said.

"Would I like to win it? Yes, of course. But it's not in my hands with the performance of the car, because I just try to do the best I can, try to give feedback, try to make it faster, and if that's going to be enough to the end of the year, I don't know. 

"But I do know that we're going to give it everything we have as a team to try and be more competitive than what we showed in Zandvoort because that was just a very poor weekend for us. 

"Would I like to win more? Yes, of course. But I also knew that a season like we had last year is very unrealistic. But did I expect it to be like this? Not really with, of course, how we ended [2023] and how we started [2024].

"It is up to us just try and make it better, but I know that everyone is working flat out to make it better."