The architect of Red Bull’s success in Formula 1, British engineer Adrian Newey will turn the page at the start of 2025 on almost 20 years of history alongside the reigning world champion team.
Considered one of the greatest engineers in F1, “Adrian Newey will leave Red Bull in 2025 after 19 years,” Red Bull announced on Wednesday, with which the Englishman was initially engaged until the end of 2025.
Newey, 65, has worked for Red Bull since 2006. He will now step away from F1 to devote himself full-time, and until his departure, to the project for Red Bull’s first hypercar which will be unveiled in July, the team said in its press release.
The British engineer designed the single-seaters which brought the Milton Keynes-based team six constructors’ world championship titles between 2010 and 2023 and seven drivers’ titles with Sebastian Vettel (from 2010 to 2013) then Max Verstappen (from 2021 to 2023). He had previously worked for the Williams and McLaren teams.
“His vision and genius helped us win 13 titles in 20 seasons,” said Red Bull director Christian Horner.
The reason for his departure, which has not been specified at this stage, could be linked to the controversy surrounding Horner, targeted by accusations of “inappropriate behavior” towards an employee earlier this year, and the power struggles she revealed within the team, according to the BBC.
Christian Horner, who has always denied these accusations, was cleared at the end of February following an internal investigation, while the complainant appealed the decision, again according to the English media.
Rich track record
The specialized site Motorsport also returns to the hypothesis of a deterioration in relations between Newey and Horner, the latter having notably stated last year that, if “Adrian plays an important role in this team […]its role has evolved in recent years.”
“The technical team under his command, led by Pierre Waché (the French technical director of Red Bull, Editor’s note), is doing a fantastic job, so that it does not depend on Adrian,” he added.
Newey had perfectly taken at Red Bull the new regulatory shift imposed on F1 teams in 2022, designing an unbeatable single-seater which allowed Red Bull to win 17 of the 22 GPs contested in 2022 then 21, still out of 22, the following year.
What consequences?
Until then, freed from Red Bull, does Newey intend to continue the F1 adventure with another team?
If no announcement has yet been made to this effect, Motorsport claims that the Briton would have received a very big offer from Aston Martin and recalls that other rumors mention his move to Ferrari or even Mercedes or McLaren.
“The teams have been trying to appropriate it for a very long time,” underlines Bernie Ecclestone, at the origin of the success of modern F1 which he led from the early 1980s to 2016. “After the recent events at Red Bull, he probably felt it was best to leave now,” he adds.
Last year, Newey also explained to the English newspaper The Telegraph only devoting “around 50%” of his time to F1, dedicating the remaining part to the design of exclusive sports cars, Supercars.
However, the site reported at the end of April that, according to the terms of his contract – which remained confidential – Newey’s arrival in a competing team could not take place before 2027, that is to say twelve months after the official end of his current contract. But Red Bull’s press release on Wednesday made no mention of this.
His departure from Red Bull also raises the question of the future of Max Verstappen, committed until 2028 with this team.
The Dutchman could leave earlier than expected, with some rumors sending him to Mercedes as early as 2025, to replace British star Lewis Hamilton, who signed for Ferrari.
If he said during the Chinese GP in April that he “had no reason to want to leave”, Verstappen had also declared earlier that “when you have a successful team, a good core of people, it is important to keep them together.” Will the genius Newey bring “Mad Max” in his wake?