Dr Helmut Marko has confessed that Red Bull is already feeling the void left by Adrian Newey's departure.
Newey, who joined Red Bull nearly two decades ago, bolstered his status as perhaps Formula 1's finest designer ever with a string of successes. But last year's internal turmoil at Red Bull prompted his move to Aston Martin.
"Of course we're missing a man like that," team advisor Marko told Osterreich newspaper. "Adrian Newey is Adrian Newey.
"But we're a team of almost 1000 people. The team behind him was built up gradually."
Right now, Red Bull looks to be in disarray, with only Max Verstappen able to tame the 2025 car. Liam Lawson, now relegated, was consistently the slowest of the entire field in Shanghai.
The decision to drop the New Zealander after just two races has drawn sharp criticism. When Osterreich newspaper asked Marko how he's holding up this week, he replied: "Things have been better."
And when questioned if Verstappen's fifth straight title is a bet worth a dollar, he admitted: "Well, our car would have to perform better."
Updates are slated for the Suzuka race, where Yuki Tsunoda steps in as Verstappen's teammate, though Marko tempered expectations: "Yes, but they have to work first, and that won't happen overnight."
Some trace Red Bull's current leadership mess to the passing of founder Dietrich Mateschitz in late 2022. Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher remarked: "As much as I respect Helmut, two races alongside Max Verstappen is simply not enough with the 'Bock'—that's what I'm calling that car.
"Marko is now coming under a bit of pressure internally again," Schumacher told Sky Deutschland, adding that he doubts team principal Christian Horner can weather the storm.
"With this whole headless bunch, fire-fighting is the order of every day," he said. "When you consider where Red Bull was and where they are now, I wouldn't want to know what Dietrich Mateschitz would have said about it.
"I think things simply are not working there right now. In my opinion, Horner backed the wrong horses, lost the best people, and this is the result now."
Verstappen, however, attended an urgent driver and technical summit at Milton Keynes on Thursday, showing he's not quite ready to abandon ship. "The meeting was primarily about Max sitting down with the engineers and going over the next steps," Marko said.
"It should allow us to calmly address Max's wishes and criticisms."
As for the contentious call to axe Lawson, ex-Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos—who raced just three times for the team—shrugged: "It's hard to come to terms with it, but ultimately it was a sporting decision that had to be made.
"Red Bull still gives him wings to develop his F1 career in the junior team."
