Will Red Bull get weaker? Ferrari duo reacts to Newey leaving the team

Adrian Newey is quitting his job at Red Bull Racing with immediate effect, and will not be a key player in developing Red Bull's next challenger. Ferrari is Red Bull's biggest rival this year, and the current RB20 won't be made worse by Newey's departure. Will it, however, make the team weaker going forward? This is what Sainz and Leclerc think.

Carlos Sainz was first asked before the weekend in Miami whether or not the playing field in Formula 1 is becoming more level. "Well, it doesn’t affect me right now in my situation. That’s why I cannot comment too much on it. I don’t know where he’s going, I don’t know what his plans are. So, let’s see."

Sainz is also unsure whether or not Newey's departure will make Red Bull weaker. The Spaniard said: "I don’t know, I don’t know how important he was at Red Bull. I’m not part of that team so I don’t know how fundamental he was. But I can guess that as Red Bull has been winning for so many years so he was a very important part of that project. How much? It’s impossible for me to tell without being on the inside. But it’s no secret that he’s one of the most valued engineers in the whole paddock."

And what does Leclerc think?

Leclerc was asked the same question as his teammate. "Will it weaken Red Bull? There are lots of people involved in every team, but some figures of a team make more difference than others, and I think Adrian is definitely one of them, as he has shown with his path that every time he's been in a team, they've been very, very successful."

How much impact it will have is difficult for the Monegasque to estimate. "It's difficult for me to comment because I don't know how exactly it works within the team. But obviously, Adrian being on the market of the engineers is definitely someone to watch. And someone that everybody in the paddock will want in their team."