Dutch racing driver Robin Frijns doubts Red Bull’s recent performance decline is directly attributable to the steady departure of Adrian Newey.
Italy’s Autosprint magazine reports that design and aerodynamics guru Newey’s next destination in Formula 1 should be Aston Martin, with an announcement likely in September.
"We’re not going to sign Adrian," McLaren CEO Zak Brown told the BBC, with Ferrari, Williams and Mercedes also having apparently missed out on signing the 65-year-old Briton.
Curiously, Newey’s steady departure from front-line duty at Red Bull has coincided with the evident end of the team’s dominant period - but Frijns doubts it’s as simple as that.
"People wonder whether the decline is perhaps due to the fact that Adrian Newey is leaving," the former Sauber test driver told the Dutch magazine Formule 1. "Personally, I don’t think so.
"Newey is the most experienced man at Red Bull in terms of aerodynamics, but many people within the team have been trained by him. He certainly doesn’t make the car by himself."
Frijns has another theory about Red Bull’s current problems.
"What I’ve heard from Spanish media is that the FIA found something, or the other teams complained about something specific on the Red Bull car that they then had to change," he said.
"I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true."