Sergio Perez says Red Bull are simply too big and well-prepared to collapse into Formula 1 oblivion after their chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, quit on Wednesday, May 1 as he seeks a new challenge.
The 65-year-old has been the lead designer at the world champions since 2006 and has overseen the creation of 13 championship-winning cars at Milton Keynes, with 2024 looking likely to bring that number up to 15 on its current trend.
But he shocked the paddock by announcing an unexpected departure from the organization as he “seeks a new challenge”, whilst reportedly being disgruntled at the internal power struggle involving Christian Horner and other members of the racing team.
“I think the Red Bull it’s in a great place,” Perez said to select members of the press ahead of the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, including Total-Motorsport.com.
“He [Horner] has a very good very strong organisation with Pierre [Wache] with Enrico [Balbo] with Ben [Waterhouse]. I think the whole group is very strong and we’re just looking forward to the future.
“I think you’ve seen in the past with big teams and big names, when they leave, they will always exit, it doesn’t matter. It’s not down to one single individual.
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“It’s a whole organisation and I think Christian has done a great job in in sort of preparing for the next generation of what’s going to happen to Red Bull.”
Perez backs up Horner’s December statement
Not for the first time, nor the last as it turned out, Horner found himself in controversy back in December when he suggested that Red Bull were more dependent on Pierre Wache, their technical director, as opposed to Newey who is technically a rank higher.
Amanda Newey, wife of the British engineer, called the team principal’s comments “hogwash” at the time as she clearly felt that her husband is thee key part of the organisation. Perez disagrees, as he said that Red Bull have been preparing for his exit for some time.
“I think Christian and the whole team has been preparing,” Perez added. “One day, you’re going to lose any single individual, so it’s a big organisation.
“And as much as he is a key player to our organisation, there is a massive team around him as well.”
Perez referenced three individuals who are members of the team who will pick up, or have picked up, Newey‘s workload and they are the technical director, Wache; the head of aerodynamics, Enrico Balbo; and the head of performance engineering, Ben Waterhouse,
Together, the trio oversees separate divisions of the team and work in liaison with each other to ensure that they are collaborating in unison in order to compartmentalise the responsibilities and to allow them to execute their jobs more effectively and precisely.
