“I want to get to the bottom of how much influence Adrian had”– Former F1 champion wonders whether return of Adrian Newey helped Red Bull to fully optimize their car in COTA

Former F1 champion Damon Hill wonders whether Red Bull became sharper after the arrival of Adrian Newey in the paddock.

On the first day of the United States Grand Prix, Red Bull looked inferior to Mercedes until the FP2. Before the session, everyone was betting their money on the Silver Arrows. A comprehensive performance by Valtteri Bottas also backed their claim.

However, by the end of the even in the Circuit of the Americas, Red Bull stood tall. Former F1 champion Damon Hill wonders whether Adrian Newey had a part to play in it.

The legendary designer was away from his team due to an accident, which got him gravely injured. But his return has probably benefitted Red Bull immensely, as speculated by Hill.

“I want to get to the bottom of how much influence Adrian had,” Hill said on the F1 Nation podcast. “Because Adrian had this little whoopsie here on his bicycle in the summer, and he’s been away from it a bit.

“But he was back there this weekend in Austin. Red Bull did not look on the pace on the first day, from the get-go. Mercedes looked like they had an advantage.”

“But they worked away and they got better and better. Some people feel that, in Turkey, Red Bull were just not optimising the car. And actually, it wasn’t so much that Mercedes had found something,”

“It was more than Red Bull had lost something, or not extracted the very best in the setup. They certainly got better and better over the weekend in Austin.”

Adrian Newey presence? Blown out of proportion

However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner downplays such suggestions by Hill. He insists that Newey has been with the team for a few more days now, and if something had to happen, it would have had happened in Turkey.