Newey back to the drawing board

Amid World Champion Red Bull’s testing nightmare at Jerez, bigwigs Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Helmut Marko and the visiting team owner Dietrich Mateschitz all departed southern Spain.

“Adrian has gone back to the drawing board, definitely,” team newcomer Daniel Ricciardo said.
Red Bull had initially pointed the finger at engine supplier Renault, and the French marque duly admitted it has had problems with all of its customer teams, including Toro Rosso and Caterham.

But Marko confessed before departing on Thursday that the latest problems are also Red Bull’s making. Paddock rumors suggest Newey has pushed his famously tight packaging too close to the limit in a new era where cooling is a major hurdle.

“I guess now there’s only so much he (Newey) can do at the track and I think he’s pretty happy working at his office in Milton Keynes,” added Ricciardo. ”I think the break before Bahrain is going to help the team a lot.

“Time is still on our side. Even if we go to Melbourne with whatever (issues), it’s a long season. These guys know how to win and I’m sure we’ll sort it out.”
Undoubtedly, Ricciardo is putting his characteristically-smiling tilt on serious trouble for Red Bull.

There are rumors that before Newey left, he had a “heated” exchange with Renault’s Rob White — each accusing the other of being most to blame for the situation.
And Red Bull’s culpability seemed clearer on Thursday, when sister team Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne said a Renault fix had given the new STR9 a “massive step forward” overnight.