McLaren ‘copy’ claim made by Red Bull as latest Newey rumour emerges – F1 news round-up

Henry Valantine 30 May 2024 10:00 PM

Max Verstappen runs ahead of Lewis Hamilton in Monaco

Thursday’s F1 news is upon us, and if you missed any of the key headlines from the day, you are in the right place.

As always, there is plenty to catch you up on from the world of Formula 1, and with additional reporting from Sam Cooper, let’s dive straight in.

F1 news: McLaren ‘copy’ claim made, another Adrian Newey rumour emerges

Helmut Marko claims McLaren ‘copy better’ in catching RB20

While McLaren have made several key behind-the-scenes changes, including the signing of a senior Red Bull figure in Rob Marshall, Helmut Marko believes other teams are copying them as the field begins to converge – and namechecked McLaren in their handiwork.

Teams copying each other is nothing new in Formula 1 throughout the decades, especially the fastest cars on track, but Marko felt McLaren and Ferrari in particular have learned from what Red Bull have done to put it to good use.

“We are now in our third year with the current regulations, and people are copying,” Marko said, as per Austrian publication OE24.

“Some copy better, and you can now see the result at McLaren. Ferrari has also constantly developed further.”

Report claims Alpine hold talks with Adrian Newey

After reports suggested Alpine were being linked with a potential return for former Team Enstone team principal Flavio Briatore in another capacity as ‘special supervisor’, a new report from Italy’s Corriere della Sera has claimed Briatore has been looking to secure Adrian Newey’s services for the team.

A spokesperson for the Alpine team told PlanetF1.com: ”As a team, we are in frequent contact with a number of industry experts in pursuit of improving overall performance.

“We consider all relevant inputs and, when appropriate, seek advice from people with experience and previous success. We cannot comment on any individual matters.”

Exclusive: Laurent Mekies offers insight into Daniel Ricciardo input at RB

RB team principal Laurent Mekies spoke to PlanetF1.com in Monaco to explain how Daniel Ricciardo has had a positive influence on the team, and how he may even end up staying beyond the end of his contract.

He said: “Daniel specifically, in the context of the projects, where the team needs to go and helping identify the gaps, it hugely helps to have somebody like Daniel that won eight races, has been at a few teams and knows where the board can be and where the board needs to go.

“So his input into the team has been massive. So even when the first couple of races say, the performance was in the uncomfortable zone, you were still bringing a massive amount of value to the team.

“Yes, he has been suffering initially with some of the characteristics of the car that will not give him the full confidence. It’s not unique to Daniel, it’s also very much the name of the game that we do every year.

“You see every year you have a driver that comes with a driving style that fits very well a given car or is a bit more sensitive to the given characteristics. So we have been working very hard with him, with his crew, with his development crew on getting that sorted.”

Fred Vasseur weighs in on Max Verstappen’s recent ‘mistakes

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has explained that, while he is not getting ahead of himself, he believes Max Verstappen has made more mistakes of late after being put under pressure.

“No, I don’t want to draw any conclusions on this weekend,” Vasseur told media including PlanetF1.com when asked about whether Ferrari would be able to put pressure on Red Bull following their win in Monaco.

“But if you have a look on the last two weekends, I think Max made more mistakes in Imola or went out more in Imola than over the last three seasons.”

Christian Horner addresses Red Bull upgrade areas

After a bumpy ride for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez over the past two races, Christian Horner wants to address that on the Red Bull RB20 moving forward.

He admitted to media including PlanetF1.com in Monaco: “I think quite a lot of focus will now happen or will now take part on ‘Okay, why have we had these ride issues? Why is the car struggling on the kerbs?’

“The VCARB car is running with our suspension from last year [and it] didn’t seem to have the same issues. So, you know, we need to understand, is it something that we’ve introduced?”

Red Bull