Numerous media reported on the departure of Red Bull’s design guru Adrian Newey. Urheilu opens up why the news is shocking in the F1 world.
Design guru of Red Bull’s F1 team Adrian Newey, 65, will leave the team at the end of this season, numerous German and British media reported.
of the British broadcasting company BBC by The reason behind Newey’s departure has been the team manager by Christian Horner harassment noise. Horner was suspected of harassing a female team worker, but an internal Red Bull investigation cleared Horner of all charges in February before the start of the season. Red Bull’s actions in the situation aroused widespread criticism in the F1 world. The person who reported the harassment has appealed the decision.
Urheilu tells why Newey’s departure is shocking news in the F1 world.
1. More important than Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton
Adrian Newey is considered the best F1 car designer of all time. Newey’s cars have won a total of 25 world championships for drivers and teams in more than 30 years.
Before Red Bull, Newey worked successfully for Williams and McLaren. Newey is remembered for example Mika Häkkinen as a creator of championship cars at the end of the 1990s. Newey moved to Red Bull for 2006 and designed Sebastian Vettel’s world champion cars in the early 2010s.
The current dominance of Red Bull is considered the most recent creation of success. When the F1 series returned to so-called ground effect cars for the 2022 season, Red Bull was clearly ahead of the others. Back in the 1980s, Newey had done his final university thesis on ground effect cars
The experience showed. In recent years, the Red Bull car has been the most superior in F1 history Max Verstappen’s in hands. It has broken practically all F1 records.
Experienced F1 reporter for Sky Sports Craig Slater aptly summed up Newey’s meaning on Friday night.
– If given the chance to choose, the majority of team managers would rather have Adrian Newey as their chief designer than Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s driver duo. He’s so good, Slater your line.
2. Harassment scandal is the biggest public scandal
Newey’s departure from Red Bull would also be the biggest visible dent to the Red Bull team after the harassment accusations that rocked the season before.
The harassment scandal brought to the surface Red Bull’s internal conflicts and power struggles by the founder By Dietmar Mateschitz after death. With the Horner news, it was also speculated whether Max Verstappen could even defect from Red Bull with the noise.
British media by The relationship between Newey and Horner has cooled with the uproar. Horner also made public comments at the end of last year, in which he emphasized the technical director under Newey Pierre Wachen abilities.
Also a Dutch journalist who wrote several scoops about Horner’s harassment suspicions Erik van Haren wrote, that Newey’s influence on this and last year’s Red Bull car would have been marginal. There have been other views as well. BBC write Newey’s departure is a big blow to the Red Bull team. Sky Sports with the design team is built around Newey.
In any case, rival teams are now smelling blood in Red Bull, who dominated the F1 series in recent years. The departure of such a significant figure from the team is considered a significant blow also in the sense that the cars of the F1 series will be renewed for the 2026 season. It can at least be speculated that Red Bull’s dominance will decrease.
3. A new super team for the F1 series?
Ferrari has been speculated to be Newey’s next employer. According to Sky Sports Slater’s information, Newey’s wish would be to still work at Ferrari if he still works at another F1 team.
Newey told last fall that he regrets a little that he has never worked for Ferrari or Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton with F1 sizes like
According to Newey, Ferrari has offered him a contract three times over the years, but he has refused each time.
If Newey were to move to Ferrari, he would also get to work with Hamilton. Seven-time champion Hamilton will move to Ferrari next season. Alonso’s current employer, Aston Martin, has also previously reportedly made a contract offer to the design guru.
It is still unclear when Newey would be able to work for another F1 team. According to the BBC, it could be possible for Newey to negotiate the termination of the contract so that he could work for a new team next year towards new rule changes.
According to Sky Sports, however, there is a clause in Newey’s contract that would prevent him from immediately working in a competitor’s team after his dismissal. According to information from Sky Sports, Newey would not be allowed to work in another F1 team until 2027.
If Newey’s move comes true, Ferrari would have quite a “last dance” about to begin. Newey and Hamilton, the most successful F1 driver of all time, are nearing the end of their F1 careers anyway. Tuners would have quite a super garage. Ferrari certainly craves the championship, because the previous driver’s world champion is Kimi Raikkonen from 2007. The previous team championship is also far away, from 2008.