Chief technical officer Adrian Newey has hinted that Red Bull’s 2013 challenger, the RB9, may not be ready for the first test of the season.
The 54-year-old designer admits the pressure of developing the RB8 up until the final race of the season, to ensure they secured the drivers’ title with Sebastian Vettel – who was locked in an intense fight with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso – has led to some delays in designing its successor.
“We were introducing developments to the car right up to the penultimate race,” he told Autosport.
“That has made it difficult to introduce all of those and simultaneously develop the next car.”
Whilst he and the team are thankful they did push until the very end, after winning the title by just three points, he concedes it has been a very busy winter trying to catch up.
“If I’m honest, this has compromised the timescales of the new car more than we would have liked,” he added.
“It was the right trade at the time, because we managed to get the job done but it means a busy winter trying to catch up again.”
The Austrian outfit is yet to confirm its launch date and whether it will be at the first test, but a spokesperson for the team told The F1 Times that an announcement would be made shortly.
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