Adrian Newey is fully focused once again on improving Red Bull's RB16B ahead of the final leg of the 2021 after a bike crash sidelined the team's chief technical officer.
Newey travelled to Turkey last week but according to Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko, Newey was still on the mend after suffering a painful bike fall that kept him away for some time from Milton Keynes.
With the team and its star driver Max Verstappen engaged in a massive tittle battle with Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, with just six rounds to go, the bulls will need to be at their full potential to take the championship down to the wire and beat their arch-rival.
"We are well-positioned, but of course Newey is a figurehead," Marko told Sky Deutschland.
"And you could see that his absence impacted motivation, and in the early stages we didn’t know how serious the injury was. He had to undergo several operations."
Red Bull's RB16B enjoyed an edge over Mercedes' W12 charger in the first half of the season. But gradually, the Brackley squad has clawed back its deficit and, depending on the circuit, now has the upper hand as Valtteri Bottas clearly demonstrated last weekend at Istanbul Park.
But since fully engaging with his team once again, Newey has pinpointed a few set-up issues impacting Red Bull's contender.
"He is not fully fit yet but he is ready to do his job and has immediately recognised the difficulties we had [in Turkey] in terms of set-up," Marko added.
"There will be a meeting with Verstappen in the upcoming week in Milton Keynes so that we are back on top in terms of the chassis."
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