Newey says Red Bull being “forced out of F1”

If Red Bull is out of F1, Adrian Newey will have time to finish his X1 design for the X1 IndyCar series and their existing 700 workers can stay employed building and servicing all the cars

Adrian Newey has accused Red Bull’s rivals of being afraid to supply them with engines for 2016 and warned there was a real risk of the four times world champions walking away from Formula One.

“We’re possibly going to be forced out of Formula One — Mercedes and Ferrari have refused to supply us out of fear," Newey, the sport’s most successful designer, told Reuters in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

"Unfortunately, our relationship with Renault is pretty terminal — there’s been too much of a marriage breakdown, so we have no engine," said Newey, who was in Abu Dhabi as head judge for the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy.

"Improvement is needed, but there has been no clear direction on how to achieve that," he said, adding Renault had rebuffed Red Bull’s attempts to help improve the engine and also bring in outside expert help.

“Red Bull should not be put in a position where they’re only there to make up the numbers."

"You can understand the position with both Ferrari and Mercedes. If they happen to give Red Bull the same sort of engine that they have, they will show up the people that are supplying the engines," Ecclestone told the BBC at the weekend.

"I don’t want them to stop. I honestly think any of the engine suppliers would be OK for them."

Newey said a "decision was needed “well before" year-end “because design and manufacturing lead times are such that you need to know what you’re putting in" the car.

“Within the regulations, the engines can be balanced somewhat so that there’s less of a performance disparity then there is at the moment, but the FIA has been unwilling to do this," he said.

“We need to get back to the position where all teams have access to an engine which is there or thereabouts — if it’s a couple of percent behind then okay, but when it’s 10 percent behind it’s too big a gap," added Newey.

“As an engineer, I’d liked to see more flexibility in the chassis regulations so that teams can find benefit through ingenuity and creativity."

"Red Bull should not be put in a position where they're only there to make up the numbers."