[ninjatalli]

This is ground breaking news for F1.

Red Bull’s chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, is expected to leave the team. Red Bull have insisted Newey is contracted until at least the end of 2025 and the team are “not aware of him joining any other team”.

Newey is the most successful designer of the modern Formula One era and has been an instrumental part of Red Bull’s success but is said to have become uncomfortable with his position at the team since the team principal, Christian Horner, was cleared after an investigation into accusations of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee. There were quite a few rumours of him leaving a few weeks ago. Seems like they finally got realised now.

If he departs to a rival team, though, it would represent a serious threat to the team keeping the world champion, Max Verstappen. The Dutchman’s future with Red Bull is already under question although he is contracted until 2028 but the loss of Newey would represent serious cause for him to consider a new course.

With the new regulations to come in 2026, this deals a double blow to Red Bull from there onwards. Newey’s designs have always been pivotal and the center of the team winning the races, even before his Red Bull days. Newey’s designed F1 cars have won a combined 25 drivers and constructors championships. Him moving out will put Red Bull’s winning ability under serious doubt. Ferrari seem to be the top contender of where he might be going but only time will tell.


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[ninjatalli]

This video goes into more context on the reasons (there seem to be multiple) why Newey is looking out, the possibilities of why Ferrari and Aston Martin might be the top contenders and what’s in store for the near future.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-J2Mt4XDalA

[am1m]

Could it be...Hamilton and Newey at Ferrari?! Will that spark a resurgence at the Prancing Horse? Or have Ferrari left it a bit too late and both are probably past their prime?

The drama off the track seems more interesting than the racing on it!

[GTO]

Will be quite a coup for Ferrari if they get Adrian Newey. And as we have seen with all the greats (Brawn, Schumacher, Vettel, Fonso, Hamilton, Kimi...), no one can resist the lure & love of the prancing horse. Ferrari will be the perfect sunset song for Adrian Newey. He has the best driver pairing in Hamilton & Le Clerc & he will get to work on some of their road cars, if he wishes as a fun project.

If true, this news will be a body blow to Red Bull. Geniuses like Adrian Newey are once-in-a-lifetime team members.

[Sensible_Speed]

To be honest, I don't think Ferrari will bid for Newey. Their management structure is very hierarchical from what I've heard and they might not gel with the rather free-minded Red Bull ace. Also, I think Newey moving to Mclaren or Mercedes is also a possibility. Aston Martin is certainly awash with funds, but I feel people are exaggerating their bullishness. You can't really take Aston Martin as a team with serious titular ambition until they get rid of Lance Stroll.

[ex-innova-guy]

I just pray Ferrari gets him, as Aston Martin is also trying to sign him up. The paddock will be all over the place once this news is confirmed. We might also see top-team drivers jumping ship with this move. Verstappen joining Mercedes and Toto Wolff poaching him was a rumour that could take place.

[sh3lby]

1. This news isn't confirmed yet. If it were, it would be as big and revolutionary as that of Hamilton moving to Ferrari a couple of months back. As a Hamilton fan I could absolutely not believe it.

2. If Newey actually goes to Ferrari (probably the only time part from Merc and RBR who can match the potential for success and the immense salary which he'll most definitely command), combined with the skill of Hamilton, Leclerc - if the prancing horses still flounder about for years without a title - well what can I even say.

Originally Posted by Sensible_Speed

To be honest, I don't think Ferrari will bid for Newey. Their management structure is very hierarchical from what I've heard and they might not gel with the rather free-minded Red Bull ace. Also, I think Newey moving to Mclaren or Mercedes is also a possibility. Aston Martin is certainly awash with funds, but I feel people are exaggerating their bullishness. You can't really take Aston Martin as a team with serious titular ambition until they get rid of Lance Stroll.

I've heard that as well but with Vasseur at the helm there are definitely internal changes going on and restructuring is a distinct possibility with Newey.
And yeah, although Aston is rich due to Daddy Stroll I too feel people overexaggerate how far they'll go. Lance out is required.

Also, shame that Sainz is still without a seat. I want Checo out and Sainz into the Red Bull seat, hopefully he can fight a bit at the front instead of Max leading by 10 secs.

[TorqueAddict007]

A bit of a surprise but there were doubts of this back when Horner downplayed Newey's role in the RB20's design and AMuS states that he gave a lot more emphasis and power to Pierre Wache and Enrico Balbo. Plus due to the budget cap making it possible to exclude only the three highest earning figures in the team, it would be hard for Red Bull to hold on to everybody. They already lost Dan Fallows to Aston Martin quite a while back, and they were at risk of losing both Pierre Wache as well as Enrico Balbo to Ferrari.

Either way, I don't think the stars have ever aligned as well for Newey to join Ferrari, he's achieved just about everything else he wanted to, his kids are now grown up, he has the opportunity to work with Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, and of course, the allure of the Prancing Horse is quite irresistible in itself. On top of all this, Fred has brought some order and stability to the team and Newey may also get the chance to design a sports hypercar for them, not to mention the truckload of money involved. Ferrari were spending upwards of 400 million dollars before the budget cap, and now that their revenue has also shot up while they spend a third of that, they can easily give Newey everything he wants.

[Sensible_Speed]

Originally Posted by sh3lby

Also, shame that Sainz is still without a seat. I want Checo out and Sainz into the Red Bull seat, hopefully he can fight a bit at the front instead of Max leading by 10 secs.

I think it is all but confirmed that Sainz will head to Sauber/Kick/Audi (whatever they're called these days) next year. Sainz and Hulkenberg is a balanced outfit in my opinion, as Sainz can be the championship contender and Hulkenberg can play a backup role in development and also fill in as the German national in the team. But, things change unexpectedly in F1 so we won't know till the official announcement.

[TheGodfather]

Adrian Newey certainly is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, formula one car designers and the second highly recognised person coming from Stratford upon Avon, the other one being William Shakespeare (also known as the Bard of Avon).

I hope his move to Ferrari becomes a reality as it'll not just be another feather in his cap or the best way to wane in the dusk but it'll also give Ferrari just the right amount of psychological push to fight for the championship (which seems missing this year). Anything that makes the sport more competitive and interesting is welcomed.

I hope we get see a closer competition for the titles among atleast the big three if not the top 5. Red bull's domination like 2023 and 2024 makes people lose interest in the sport.

BTW if anyone is interested, Adrian Newey has also written a book How to build a car where he's written about the cars from Williams and McLaren to Redbull.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by TheGodfather

BTW if anyone is interested, Adrian Newey has also written a book How to build a car where he's written about the cars from Williams and McLaren to Redbull.

There’s a whole thread on it - Adrian Newey biography (Adrian Newey's Autobiography - A treat for racing fans)

[ads11]

I'll admit I've been a disinterested F1 follower of late but this news made me sit up as well. The fact he wants to leave is momentous news indeed and given the breadth of outlets stating as much leads me to think it's true.

I've not been out of the loop with the fact that there's been an internal power struggle at RBR since Dietrich kicked the bucket. The latest Horner scandal was another battle in that wider war (the linked The Race video does a good job of summarising this). Twitter and Reddit threads openly mention that apparently Horner and Newey shared the same PA, the lady in question who raised the allegations against Horner. If true, you can't deny that'll do it for Adrian finally having enough.

A couple of observations:

• If Adrian does leave it's going to blow the driver market open again because Max won't stick around. I can picture Toto offering a kings ransom to Jos to lure him over. There'll be a truly messy aftermath in the RBR boardrooms from the ensuing fracas. I mean said fracas has been simmering and boiling over throughout, it's just going to get even uglier now if history is any guide.
• Say Newey goes to Aston, there'll be a certain irony when it comes to the Aston Martin Valkyrie, given that was meant to be Adrian's opportunity to have his own Mclaren F1 a la Gordon Murray (when Aston were still tied to RBR. When Aston finally revealed the production spec, I noted from all the press that they were very careful to pretty much excise Adrian's name and involvement from the final product.
• What happens to the RB17 then? Surely that project gets canned without Newey in the fold, given it was a side project to keep the great man engaged? I mean I never got the business case behind that anyway. It was so clearly just a one off limited production run (if it even came to that).
• I can see Newey wanting to work with Hamilton or Alonso. that makes sense. Few of the current crop, bar Max, appear to be of the same calibre as those two old greats.
• However dude is 65, will he want to up sticks to Italy? It's a big shift this late on in life.
• He did have a horrible accident whilst cycling, maybe that'll put him off living in the English countryside (those A roads in Oxfordshire can be a menace).
• Going back to Adrian's passion projects, should he still want to do a hypercar, would he get a chance to do that at Aston? I don't think so, Aston scaled back their own plans with the Valkyrie, Valhalla et el., and I doubt they'll soon have another stab at doing something of the sort given how delayed that original project is. Not to mention they're not exactly rolling in the money to sanction another expensive project like that.
• Should Adrian go to Ferrari, it's logical that there'll be a chance for a hypercar but how much ownership would he get? You don't need the Newey name to shift a hypercar if it's got a Ferrari badge on it!

But this does lead me to some interesting musings for the Ferrari option:

• Adrian's mentioned a few times he'd like to do yachts for eg. I'm sure there's a yacht brand under the Exor umbrella and if not, a Ferrari cross badged yacht feels right up the brands alley in terms of clientele and cross badged product portfolios.
• But more importantly, what if Newey got a chance to get involved in not just the Scuderia's F1 project but their WEC entry? Personally the LHDH and Hypercar categories are one of the most exciting in motorsport compared to the trucks that F1 have become, with true variety not just in power trains but aero philosophies (I'll admit Peugeot do look to have abandoned the wingless design, sad times..). At this stage in his career I can easily see the opportunity to play around with the more intriguing aero options on the WEC side becomes an added carrot for the Maranello option.

[Carguy9902]

I think he's gonna surprise everyone and end up in Mclaren helping Lando.

[ads11]

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...MH6QeeA2P.html

Well that's official now. Saying he'll leave Q1 2025.

Wonder if he'll have a gardening leave period or if that purported exit date is inclusive of gardening leave.

[OptimusPrime1]

Originally Posted by ads11

What happens to the RB17 then? Surely that project gets canned without Newey in the fold, given it was a side project to keep the great man engaged? I mean I never got the business case behind that anyway. It was so clearly just a one off limited production run (if it even came to that).

I'll quote Red bull's official statement here:

"The Team announces that Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey will leave the Red Bull Technology Group in the first quarter of 2025.

The engineering supremo will step back from Formula 1 design duties to focus on final development and delivery of Red Bull’s first hypercar, the hugely anticipated RB17.

He will remain involved in and committed to this exciting project until its completion."

Originally Posted by ads11

Wonder if he'll have a gardening leave period or if that purported exit date is inclusive of gardening leave.

Based on my current understanding, Adrian Newey is stepping back from his F1 responsibilities at Red Bull and will focus solely on the RB17 Hypercar project. He will be on a 12-month gardening leave and is expected to be available as a free agent in the F1 paddock as early as the first quarter of 2025.

On a side note, many rumors now suggest that Newey is likely to join Ferrari after several meetings with Fred Vasseur.