Red Bull design ace Adrian Newey has revealed that he came close to quitting Formula 1 in late 2003 after a “bitter” disagreement with his former team McLaren.

In an interview in the latest issue of F1 Racing magazine (on sale next week), aerodynamic genius Newey said that if McLaren had followed his advice, then Michael Schumacher and Ferrari might not have run away with the 2004 championship.

McLaren had to use an updated 2002 design throughout 2003 after its radical new MP4/18 chassis proved troublesome.

Although the MP4/18 was never raced, it formed the basis of the 2004 car, despite Newey’s vehement protestations.

“In terms of retiring, the only time I ever really considered it, to be perfectly honest, was at the end of 2003, during a bitter battle within McLaren about what direction we should take with the 2004 car,” said Newey.

“I became a bit disillusioned with the whole situation.

“It was all to do with the MP4-19A, which was effectively a rebadged 18A, and I felt there were inherent problems with the 18A.”

After struggling to even score points in the first half of 2004, McLaren eventually introduced an updated chassis – the MP4/19B – and won the Belgian Grand Prix.

But by that time, Schumacher was already champion.

“We could and, I believe, should have built the 19B straight away, and, if we’d had the 19B at the start of 2004, I think we’d have had an altogether different season,” said Newey.

“I doubt that we’d have won the championship, but we’d certainly have won a few more races than we did.”

Newey remained with McLaren until the end of 2005, when he stunned the F1 paddock by moving to Red Bull Racing.