The scope for innovation in Formula One is decreasing with every passing year, according to Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey.

The man who masterminded the last four championship-winning cars as well as other similarly successful machines for Williams and McLaren says it’s getting harder for designers to find the edge over the competition.

“It’s less and less,” Newey told the official Formula One website when asked about the degree of freedom in the regulations.

“The F-duct [introduced by McLaren in 2010] was a very clever example of getting around regulations; the exhaust duct was a good way of getting around them; little bits and pieces where we’ve found small loopholes in the regulations. But it is increasingly getting smaller.”

“To have been an engineer in the seventies – the early seventies – would have been fascinating for me. You had almost no regulations, but on the other hand you also had very little research capabilities.

“You came up with a car, ran it, and if you were lucky it was a good idea and it ran well. If not, then you ran the previous year’s car and hoped for next year.”

With new engine regulations coming next year Newey believes getting that right as well as the chassis will be the key to success:. “The car that will brush aside all others will be a car having the combination of good engine and good chassis,” he said, “if one side is letting you down you will have a problem”.

“But who will come up with the ideal combination? That’s the big guessing game for all of us and will add spice to the 2014 season.”