The RB20 wasn’t exactly a favorite among its drivers. Red Bull’s technical director Pierre Waché has now responded to Adrian Newey’s comments about where things went wrong for the team.
Max Verstappen started the season looking just as dominant in the RB20 as he was in 2023. But things changed quickly.
The first warning signs appeared at the Miami Grand Prix. After that, the car struggled more and more against McLaren and Ferrari, especially in the second half of the season.
Verstappen had to focus on securing his drivers’ title while the team slipped to third in the constructors’ standings.
“It’s something I was starting to become concerned about, but not many other people in the organization seemed worried,” Newey told Auto, Motor und Sport.
“From what I can see from the outside, the guys at Red Bull – this is no criticism – I think they just, perhaps through lack of experience, kept going in that same direction.”
The legendary designer didn’t hold back.
“The problem became more and more acute to the point that even Max found it difficult to drive,” he added.
## Waché responds to Newey’s verdict
Waché isn’t bothered by Newey’s assessment. In fact, he admits there’s some truth to it.
“It’s true that I have a lot less experience than him!” he told PlanetF1.com. “He’s 66 years old, and I’m 50 – 16 years less experience than him. I cannot comment on that.”
The technical director took the comments in stride.
“I don’t take it personally, and maybe it’s true. It doesn’t change anything, I think what you have to learn… this type of comment, for me, doesn’t matter.”
What matters more to Waché is acknowledging their shortcomings.
“What is important is what is true – we didn’t do enough of a good job during last year, and we lost ground in terms of performance – maybe by experience, maybe by misunderstanding some stuff, and we tried to correct it.”
He believes the team has learned valuable lessons from their struggles.
“What is correct is that it looks, for me, that we understand. I think this is how you learn the most. When we were in 2023, we learned less than last year, and every problem you have gives you a little bit more to understand what you need to do.”
Waché emphasized that his focus remains on the team’s performance rather than personal criticism.
“Personally, it doesn’t affect me. From my point of view, my job is not a personal job. My job is to make sure, in an engineering competition, I’m more affected by the fact that we are not good enough and losing, than a personal comment about myself.”
