Red Bull has revealed chief technical officer Adrian Newey is back working on this year’s car after a serious bike crash.
The legendary car designer returned to the pit-wall in Istanbul for the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix at the start of August.
And while it’s only known Newey was absent for several weeks at least, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko admits that impacted the team’s performance.
“We are well-positioned, but of course Newey is a figurehead,” he told Sky Deutschland.
“You could see that his absence impacted motivation, and in the early stages, we didn’t know how serious the injury was. He had to undergo several operations.”
On the track, Red Bull does appear to have slipped behind Mercedes on pace, particularly on the straights, but Newey’s return quickly yielded some positive news…
“He is not fully fit yet but he is ready to do his job and has immediately recognised the difficulties we had [in Turkey] in terms of set-up,” Marko added.
“There will be a meeting with [Max] Verstappen in the upcoming week in Milton Keynes so that we are back on top in terms of the chassis.”
And there is a feeling that gains are needed if the Dutchman is to beat Lewis Hamilton to this year’s championship.
“We need to find a bit more pace because [a lead of] six points is nothing and I wish I had a bit more pace overall because it’s going to be tough,” Verstappen said post-race.
“So far I can’t complain about the season, we had a lot of good results and we are in a Championship fight and that is all we could hope for.
“Now we will see how it will go.”