Adrian Newey reveals Red Bull could not stop Max Verstappen from taking POINTLESS risk

Adrian Newey

Newey reveals Red Bull could not stop Verstappen from taking POINTLESS risk

The Red Bull guru was on the edge of his seat last weekend as Max went for the fastest lap

Lauren Sneath

Thursday 6 July 2023 10:57 Updated: 11:25

Adrian Newey has revealed that Red Bull could not prevent him from attempting the fastest lap at the end of the Austrian Grand Prix, despite the risk bringing no gain for the team.

The Red Bull technical mastermind, who can be credited with much of the success the team have enjoyed so far this season, saw Verstappen take wins in the sprint and the grand prix at the weekend.

Newey, however, is not planning on resting on his laurels. Speaking about the near-miss between Verstappen and Sergio Perez during a rain-impacted sprint, he told the F1 Nation podcast: “We have to be nervous.

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“These things can go so wrong so quickly, as we almost saw yesterday with Max and Checo having their little tussle up to turn 3, so we can never relax.

“We had good pace this weekend but there’s still lots of other things that can trip you up and people keep developing, so we’ve just got to keep pushing.”

Fastest lap gamble

Max Verstappen claimed victory for Red Bull at the Austrian Grand Prix

Newey also admitted that he felt ‘trepidation’ when Verstappen took the bold decision to attempt to clinch the fastest lap of the race.

At the time, Verstappen had a roughly 24sec lead, but a pit stop would need to run perfectly in order for the current world champion to take the fastest lap and not lose his lead.

Although all would go smoothly, as Verstappen took the fasteset lap of his team-mate on the final lap, the RB19 designer had some doubts.

Newey said: “Slight trepidation, because the reality is it didn’t make any difference to our constructors’ score – Checo already had fastest lap and, as far as we could see, nobody else would pit to try to beat it.

“So it was a little bit nervous, but that’s Max – you can’t take it away from him.

“He always wants to go for everything and the boys have been doing fantastic pit stops today so there’s hopefully not too much concern.”