(Paris) Adrian Newey will leave the Red Bull Formula 1 team, of which he has been the engineer for many years, due to the controversy affecting the team director, Christian Horner, the BBC said on Thursday, citing sources. close to the engineer and the team.
The specialized site Motorsport.com reports for its part that Newey would have announced to the team management his decision to leave the team at the end of the season.
Contacted by AFP, a Red Bull spokesperson indicated that “Adrian is under contract until at least the end of 2025 and we are not aware of him joining another team”.
Considered one of F1’s greatest engineers, Newey, aged 65, has worked for Red Bull since 2006. He designed the single-seaters which brought the Milton Keynes-based team six world championship titles. manufacturers between 2010 and 2023 and seven driver titles with Sebastian Vettel (from 2010 to 2013) then Max Verstappen (from 2021 to 2023).
The Briton had previously worked for the Williams and McLaren teams.
Red Bull has been shaken by controversy since Christian Horner, its historic boss, was accused by a team employee of “inappropriate behavior”.
On February 28, an internal investigation led by an external lawyer appointed by Red Bull cleared Horner, who had always protested his innocence and welcomed this decision which came just before the first Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain.
The employee who made the accusations was suspended from the team on March 7 but has reportedly since been reinstated. The BBC said in mid-March that it had referred the matter to the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
Explode
PHOTO PEDRO PARDO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner
Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, himself a former F1 driver, estimated in early March that Red Bull would “explode” if Horner, 50 years old, 19 of whom at the head of the team, remained in his post.
The affair, revealed at the beginning of February, had no impact on the Red Bull’s racing performance.
After five Grands Prix raced this season, the team largely dominates the constructors’ world championship with 195 points compared to 151 for its runner-up, Ferrari. In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen, winner four times already this season, is in the lead with 110 points, ahead of his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez (85 pts).
But Max Verstappen himself gave his support a few weeks ago to Helmut Marko, another influential Red Bull manager, whose relations with Christian Horner are not considered to be good.
Motorsport also claims that Adrian Newey would have received a very big offer from Aston Martin and recalls that other rumors have mentioned his move to Ferrari while the British engineer was recently seen not far from its headquarters in Maranello in Italy.
“If all the people who are going to test at Mugello (a circuit located not far from Maranello, editor’s note) sign with Ferrari, we will have to buy a bus to go to the circuits,” replied with humor the head of the Italian team, the Frenchman Frédéric Vasseur, last Friday to AFP.