Adrian Newey in his office at Red Bull. Fresh air?
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Anyone who follows F1 knows that certain things start from who knows where, but are quickly confirmed. The move of the day is the departure of Adrian Newey from Red Bull. Initially, German journalist Michael Schmidt published an article in Auto Motor und Sport stating that the “Mago” would leave the bullfighting team. A few hours later, BBC F1 editor Andrew Benson also posted the same thing. Minutes ago, English Autosport reported the same fact.
For now, there has been no official position from the parties involved. It is not new that such a move has been discussed, especially in light of the real civil war that took place at Red Bull over command of the team. As far as is known, Newey would be “faithful” to Horner, who was responsible for his move to the Taurus side in mid-2007.
However, all the uncertainty that has surrounded the situation within Red Bull ends up causing insecurity. Not to mention another aspect that would be bothering Newey: his retirement from F1. Today, his official position is Head of the Technical Office (CTO), which would be a kind of “manager” of all projects at Red Bull Technology, a company that officially designs F1 cars and is involved with other areas such as nautical (the Red Bull sponsors and provides technical support to Allinghi) and automotive (development of the Hypercar RB17).
Newey with the Alinghi team in Barcelona: boats are also his attention
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Previously, Newey himself said that today 50% of his working time is dedicated to F1. But precisely the situation with changes to the budget ceiling rules ends up complicating the situation. Today, the rules say that 3 team members can have their salaries outside the cap and that F1 staff expenses do not need to be fully allocated in the budget. For 2025, the costs must be fully recorded (with the exception of 3 salaries).
With this situation, Red Bull would have “suggested” that Newey dedicate himself entirely to the RB17 project, later returning to the F1 2026 project. Or even a possible salary reduction. What is emerging is that this 17-year marriage would be close to ending.
The big question that remains is: Newey leaving Red Bull, where would he go?
Having an asset like Adrian Newey is something every team would like. Ferrari is the “main suspect”, given the team’s history, technical-financial power and now the Lewis Hamilton factor for 2025. There were many times that the Italians sought out the engineer, but an agreement was not reached.
Aston Martin would be the other option raised by all the power that has been assembled by Lawrence Stroll and knowing that Honda will arrive in 2026 and Fernando Alonso at the helm. Not to mention that some colleagues from Red Bull are working there, starting with Dan Fellows, the head of the technical area.
Mercedes would welcome him with a red carpet, a band and fireworks. It could be the key to unlocking the domtime technical area, which is increasingly lost in this phase of ground-effect cars. Here, it could be a situation that would match the “bomb” of Max Verstappen’s departure, which many are considering as a very certain possibility.
Could anyone else appear on this list? Audi, with its power?
As said today by Michael Schmidt, Newey now has a second home in South Africa and has been working remotely. In case of proximity, Aston Martin would win. Would going to Italy be a problem? Apparently no.
If the exit is confirmed, one question also remains: what would the “quarantine” issue look like? If he left now, wherever he went, Newey would have little impact on a possible 2025 project. But he would be free for 2026, at a time when everything will change again…
The fact is that today Newey would go wherever he wanted. Money is far from being a problem. But there would be the issue of challenge. He himself says he doesn’t see himself stopping anytime soon. Seeing the next steps of this soap opera. Even see if this exit is confirmed…
