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Horner: Newey has his mojo back

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says technical chief Adrian Newey 'has his mojo back again' thanks to the new F1 regulations but says he isn't able to be totally committed to F1 due to another project.

The Milton Keynes-based squad enjoyed a low key pre-season test at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona while battling with a couple of reliability niggles on its TAG Heuer-sponsored Renault engine.

While continuing to play down Red Bull's chances of pulling off a surprise at the 2017 season opener in Australia and calling Mercedes 'clear, clear favourites', Horner says the new F1 technical regulations have revitalised his team with a particular focus on chief designer Newey.

"Adrian definitely has his mojo back again," Horner told Formula1.com. "Right now he is juggling two projects - the Aston Martin car and the RB13 - but he's got a great team and together they are doing a super job.

"Adrian is contributing effectively into that. It's great to see him enthused again about Formula One."

Red Bull acted as the main resistance against Mercedes last season with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo grabbing a race win apiece which helped the team leapfrog Ferrari in the F1 constructors' championship.

With Ferrari showing promising pace at pre-season testing, demonstrated by Kimi Raikkonen setting the fastest lap of testing on the final day, the jury remains out on who will be Mercedes main rivals come lights out in Melbourne. 

Zdroj: crash.net