Red Bull missed the first of four important pre-season test sessions, Newey preferring to hone the fine detail on the car before taking to the track. There was also a slight delay in the production of RB6 caused by thoughts about switching from the Renault engine to Mercedes‑Benz. Newey makes no bones about the differing approach employed by the engine makers to a rule that says engine specifications must be frozen [to save costs], the only exception being updates to improve reliability.
"The fact is the Mercedes engine [used by Brawn and McLaren] enjoyed a good advantage over the rest of the field last year," Newey says. "Lap time-wise it was significant; several 10ths of a second. When you have to try and claw that back in the chassis, it's quite a big ask. So obviously we looked at the Mercedes engine. We also looked at the Cosworth engine very carefully. In the end, Brawn and McLaren blocked us from having the Mercedes engine, but we became very satisfied with staying with Renault in any case.
"Mercedes developed very heavily through what was meant to be a frozen engine, whereas some of the others, Renault in particular, were very honest and said: 'It's a frozen engine, it's cost cutting, we won't develop further.' And they fell behind. But they have had a good programme to address that. They've been a fantastic company to work with, so if we can maintain that good working relationship and they can bring the engine up to scratch, then that's perfect. As for what Mercedes did last year, that's part of motorsport and you have to be philosophical about these things."