Britain’s Adrian Newey will leave the Red Bull Formula 1 team at the beginning of 2025, of which he was an engineer for many years, the reigning world champion’s team announced on Wednesday.
One of the best F1 engineers
“Regarded as one of F1’s greatest engineers, Adrian Newey will leave Red Bull in 2025 after 19 years,” the team of three-time reigning world champion, Dutchman Max Verstappen, wrote in a press release. The reason for his departure was not specified.
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“Pass the baton (…) and look for new challenges”
The team, which has crushed the competition for two seasons, further specified that the engineer will now leave F1 and will devote himself fully to the project of Red Bull’s first hypercar until his departure.
“My dream was to become a Formula 1 engineer and I was lucky enough to make that dream come true,” explains the engineer in his team’s press release, adding that “it is the right time to pass the baton to others and seek new challenges. for me.”
Newey, 65, has worked for Red Bull since 2006. He designed the cars that brought the Milton Keynes team six world constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ titles between 2010 and 2023 with Sebastian Vettel (from 2010 to 2013) and Max. Verstappen (from 2021 to 2023).
13 titles in 20 seasons
“His vision and genius helped us win 13 titles in 20 seasons,” boasted team director Christian Horner.
The reason for his departure, which has not been specified at this stage, could be related to the controversy surrounding Horner, who was the target of allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” against a staff member earlier this year, and the much turmoil this has caused within the team, he claims. to the BBC.
Horner, who has always denied the allegations, was cleared in late February after an internal investigation.
Worsened relations with Horner?
Specialized sites Motorsport also returns to the hypothesis of a deterioration in relations between Newey and Horner, who notably stated last year that if “Adrian plays an important role in this team and in what we have achieved (…) , his role has evolved in recent years.”
“The technical team under his command, led by Pierre Waché (Red Bull’s French technical director, editor’s note), is doing a fantastic job, so Adrian doesn’t matter,” he added.