Sudden change in Formula 1. Sudden, but expected. Adrian Newey, one of the best engineers in history, has made official what was an open secret, that at the end of the year he will leave the Red Bull team after almost 20 years of successful dedication. He has thus confirmed it through a statement.
Newey, technical director of Oracle Red Bull Racing and member of the company since 2006, creator of the cars with which Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have dominated Formula 1, in two different periods, will leave the group in the first quarter of 2025.
The head of engineering, who also gave the Mexican Sergio Pérez a car with which he has achieved five of his six victories in the premier category of motorsport, and with which he achieved runner-up last season, will leave his Formula One design duties. to focus on the final development and delivery of Red Bull’s first hypercar, the long-awaited RB17. Meanwhile, he “will remain involved and committed to this exciting project until its completion,” the company reports.
Since joining Red Bull Racing in 2006, Adrian Newey’s leadership has been instrumental in leading the team and group to seven F1 drivers’ and six constructors’ championship titles, with a total of 118 wins and 101 pole positions, including the 2008 Toro Rosso pole and victory, Sebastian Vettel’s first win.
“Since I was a child I wanted to be a fast car designer. My dream was to be an engineer in Formula 1 and I have been lucky enough to make that come true. For almost two decades, it has been a great honor for me to have played a key role in the Red Bull Racing’s progress from a newcomer to a multi-title winning team. However, I feel now is an opportune time to pass that baton on to others and seek new challenges for myself,” Newey stated in the statement.
“It has been a real privilege and I am sure that the engineering team is well prepared for the work leading up to the final evolution of the car during the four-year period established by these regulations,” he said.
Adrian Newey’s first real design for the team, the RB3, achieved a podium finish at the 2007 European Grand Prix. The following year his design achieved the group’s first victory with Vettel and Toro Rosso at the Italian GP.
Following the regulation changes, his RB5 design gave the team its first victory, at the Chinese Grand Prix in 2009, and five more victories that season.
In 2010, RB6 led the team to its first double title, an achievement that was repeated in each of the following three years. The introduction of hybrid power to F1 in 2014 led to more difficult times and a first step back from Adrian Newey’s exclusive commitment to F1 to enable the creation of the Valkyrie hypercar.
The arrival of Honda as the team’s power unit partner in 2019 rekindled Adrian Newey’s competitive spark. The RB16B claimed its first championship in eight years in 2021. An extensive rule change for the following season resulted in another design, the RB18, leading to a new era of dominance that began in 2022 and continues to this day.
With his departure, Newey becomes one of the most coveted pieces on the market in Formula 1 and his future today is unknown. Ferrari, with a million-dollar offer and the presence of Lewis Hamilton as a star signing, seems one of the best placed to acquire his services. Although Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso are also following in his footsteps.
