RBR confirms departure of six-time champion designer, Adrian Newey | formula 1

Newey’s departure, however, will be gradual: he will participate in some races until the end of 2024 to help RBR and, after permanently leaving the team in F1, he will continue supporting the Milton Keynes manufacturer’s hypercar project in the United Kingdom. Kingdom, the RB17.

This week, “BBC F1” even reported that the engineer’s lawyers were negotiating his early departure from RBR so that, in 2025, he could sign with another team. Normally, people with technical roles in F1 must wait a period of quarantine, after leaving a team, before joining another.

The English conglomerate also named Ferrari – seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton’s destination in 2025 – as Newey’s favorite option.

– For almost two decades, I had the great honor of playing a fundamental role in the progress of RBR, which went from a newcomer to a multi-title winning team. However, I feel that now is the opportune time to pass the baton to others and seek new challenges for myself. In the meantime, the final stages of development of the RB17 are approaching, so for the remainder of my time with the team, my focus will be there. It was a real privilege, and I am confident that the engineering team is well prepared for the final evolution work of the car during the four-year period of this regulation – declared the engineer.

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Newey began working in F1 in 1980 as an intern, when the ground effect (reintroduced in the 2022 technical regulations, in which the majority of the aerodynamic load is generated by the floor of the cars) was still in force in the category’s vehicles.

He worked at March, Williams and McLaren, designing championship-winning cars such as Nigel Mansell’s FW14B from Williams, from 1992, and the MP41/13 from Mika Hakkinen’s first title with McLaren, in 1998. The engineer signed with RBR in 2006 and was the creative mind behind the single-seaters that guided Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen to four and three titles respectively.

Ben Sulayem even asked Max Verstappen, RBR driver, to publicly support Horner, a request denied by the three-time champion. His father, former F1 driver Jos Verstappen, argued with the team boss and declared that RBR would “explode” if Christian remained in charge. The Dutchman came to his father’s defense, stating that Jos is “not a liar” – although he avoided strong opinions about the case.

The crisis took on the air of a struggle for strength due to Jos’s public support for Marko’s authority. Horner was accompanied at the race in Sakhir by Chalerm Yoovidhya, Thai billionaire and main shareholder of the company that gives RBR its name.

His supposed rival has the support of Oliver Mintzlaff, director of the six-time F1 champion’s parent company who was also at his side in the Saudi race; and the family of Dietrich Mateschitz, team founder who died in 2022.

F1 returns this weekend on May 5th with the Miami GP, valid as the sixth stage of the 2024 season. Check the calendar.