Former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez says “a lot more problems started” for the team when Adrian Newey left his position as chief technical officer during the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Having led the design of cars that brought Red Bull eight Drivers’ Championships and six Constructors’ Championships, Newey departed midway through last season amid an apparent deterioration of his relationship with team principal Christian Horner.
Red Bull began the 2024 season in the same form that saw them deliver a historically dominant 2023 campaign but struggled after Newey stepped back from his role and finished third in the constructors’ standings behind McLaren and Ferrari, with Max Verstappen having to be at his brilliant best to cling on for a fourth successive drivers’ crown.
Newey’s exit was followed in August 2024 by Jonathan Wheatley leaving his role as Red Bull sporting director to become Sauber/Audi team principal, which Perez also cites as a factor in the team’s relative struggles.
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Listen to Perez after he racked up his seventh Q1/SQ1 exit after failing to make SQ2 at the Qatar Grand Prix
“We didn’t dominate in an era like Mercedes, which had an advantage with the engine,” Perez, who left Red Bull at the end of the 2024 season, told the Desde el Paddock podcast.
“Here, the advantage was very small, and we had a great team.
“When Adrian Newey left, I think that’s when a lot more problems started.
“Then Jonathan Wheatley left, who was a fundamental part of the team.”
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Aston Martin’s managing technical partner Adrian Newey revealed the details of his role as he made his first appearance with the team at the Monaco GP
Having remained with Red Bull until early 2025 to finish work on their hypercar project away from F1, Newey has taken up a role as managing technical partner at rivals Aston Martin, with the team hoping the 66-year-old can catapult them into title contention under the sport’s radical new regulations next season.
Wheatley took up his role at Sauber at the beginning of April, and will oversee the team’s transition to becoming Audi’s works outfit next year.
‘They are very sorry’ – Perez says Red Bull regret dropping him
Perez had largely proven to be a perfect number two to Verstappen after joining Red Bull in 2021, but his form dramatically deteriorated around the same time Newey departed.
Having finished in the top five in the first six races of 2024, Perez would remarkably fail to do so again in the remaining 16 rounds of the season.
He had been given a two-year contract extension – until the end of 2026 – after his strong start to the season but was ultimately let go before the extension had even kicked in after his form spiralled to new depths during the final weeks of his campaign.
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Look back at Perez’s five race wins for Red Bull
The Mexican believes that Red Bull didn’t do enough to protect him from speculation over his future.
“In the end, that’s how the sport is. Decisions were made because there was too much pressure that they themselves ended up creating,” Perez said.
“I had a signed contract in Monaco, but from the next race onwards, everyone was talking about my future even though I already had a signed contract.
“It would have been easy for the team to protect me and say, ‘You know what? We have a driver signed for the next two years’. But that wasn’t the case. From then on, no one talked about anything other than Red Bull race after race.
“In the end, there was a lot of pressure on my side of the garage… it was putting a lot of pressure on the engineers, on everyone involved, and I think in the end that ended up costing us a lot.”
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Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda dramatically flipped his car into the barriers and thankfully walked away from the accident unscathed
Perez’s successors as Verstappen’s team-mate have fared little better, with Liam Lawson only lasting two rounds before being replaced by Yuki Tsunoda, who has failed to finish higher than ninth in eight grand prix appearances for Red Bull.
Perez, who has been linked with a return to F1 with Cadillac when the American brand joins the grid in 2026, says he has heard there is regret at Red Bull over the decision to let him leave.
“I know that deep down they are very sorry, I know that from a very good source,” Perez added.
“People might think I’m happy about it, but no… we had a great team, and in the end it fell apart, little by little.”
Next up for the 2025 Formula 1 season is a return to Europe for the Austrian Grand Prix, which is live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.
