Adrian Newey says Red Bull will need “freak luck” in a race to be able to win a grand prix this season.

Daniel Ricciardo won three races in 2014 as Red Bull finished second in the constructors’ championship as the only team to secure victory other than Mercedes. However, 2015 has seen the four-time constructors’ champions even further off the pace, with both drivers yet to finish on the podium.

Newey has taken a more backseat role so far this season as he focuses on other projects at Red Bull, and he admits winning just one race is unlikely.

“I can’t see us being able to win a race this year,” Newey told F1i. “Not without one of those freak luck things.”

And Newey says the lack of success is as much down to the RB11 not being as strong as its predecessor as it is due to a lack of performance from the Renault power unit.

“I think in fairness this year hasn’t been as strong as Mercedes and Ferrari. But there’s been various regulation changes which have happened over the last 12 months which have meant the aerodynamic route we have taken prior to that we’ve had to revise and look at a different direction, which obviously takes time.

“There’s no point in crying about it, it’s just one of those things. So we’re still in the process of doing that. Some of that work has been gradually going on the car through this season and if you look at [Silverstone] it seems to be going in the right direction.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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