- Red Bull
Newey expects Mercedes to retain power advantage
Red Bull's Adrian Newey believes it will be tough for Renault and Ferrari to catch up with Mercedes' engine development this year, but insists teams can still win with less power.
Red Bull finished a distant second to the Mercedes works team last year after struggling with an underpowered Renault engine all year. This year the engine manufacturers are free to bring a certain amount of performance upgrades to their power units throughout the season, but Newey believes it will be tough to close the gap to the 2014 champions.
"Can Renault and Ferrari get to Mercedes' level? It's going to be a very difficult challenge - and of course we don't know where Honda are going to come in," Newey told Sky Sports News.
However, Newey believes it is possible to overcome the power deficit with a well-sorted chassis and believes Williams' strong performance last year, which often saw it ahead of Red Bull, was largely due to engine advantage it held as a Mercedes customer.
"With a slightly weaker engine but a superior chassis you can still win and vice versa. We have a reasonably even balance between engine and chassis - which, in my view, is how it should be.
"Clearly, last year was engine-dominated and we saw that with Williams springing forward. Obviously Williams did a very job but I think what really made the difference for them was the engine."
Newey has taken a step back from the F1 team this year as he pursues other projects, including working with Sir Ben Ainslie's sailing team.
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