'Newey's input ignored in development of RB20, Waché drew own plan'

Newey announced his departure from Red Bull in May after nearly 20 years of service at the Austrian racing stable. Yet the 65-year-old Briton is still officially under contract until March. When his exit was announced, the press release stated that Newey would no longer be involved in developing the car and would only be present at some Grands Prix to ensure procedures ran smoothly.

Christian Horner then said the following in Miami: "Adrian has not been at any briefing this weekend, apart from race strategy. He has no access to the data and he is not signing anything. However, he will still be at a number of races this season." Remarkably, Newey has actually been present at all races since then, and his signature red notebook has also appeared more and more often again. 

So has the engineer's help been called in again now that things have been going down at Red Bull in recent weeks? Exactly what role Newey is playing at the moment is unclear, but according to Formu1a.uno , it is clear that the RB20's inferior performance is due in part to the updates made in recent months.

Newey passed over

After the Miami Grand Prix, Waché is said to have partially revamped the car's aerodynamics. In doing so, the top man aimed mainly for better performance at low and medium speeds, but without giving up speed in the high-speed corners. Cooling was rigorously redesigned, to - reportedly - Newey's dismay.

Newey would not agree with the extreme nature of the cooling. He disagrees with many parts now on the RB20 anyway, including some of the cooling. Newey also disagreed with the "shark inlets" - which were already on the car at the start of the season - as well as the air intakes on the side of the Halo (introduced in Japan).

All this is said to have made Newey feel passed over and therefore decided to leave the team he would often make world champion.