Red Bull confirms Adrian Newey’s immediate departure from the F1 squad.
Adrian Newey, the famed designer and inventor of Red Bull’s 2022, 2023, and 2024 vehicles, will leave the company in the first quarter of 2025, but will immediately stand down from Formula One duties.
That means the 65-year-old is now engaged to Red Bull Technology Group and will continue to work on their hypercar, the RB17, as it nears the end of development before going into production.
It’s unclear if he’ll be able to work for another club after 2025, but the BBC reports that Newey’s attorneys are certain they can breach a “non-compete” clause in his contract to allow him to go.
“For nearly two decades, it has been my great honour to have played a key role in Red Bull Racing’s progress,” Newey stated in a press release issued by Red Bull. “From beginner to multiple-title-winning team.
“However, I feel now is an opportune moment to hand that baton over to others and to seek new challenges for myself.”
He went on: “I’d want to thank the many fantastic individuals I’ve worked with at Red Bull over the previous 18 years for their brilliance, commitment, and hard work.
“It has been a real privilege, and I am confident that the engineering Team are well prepared for the work going into the final evolution of the car under the four-year period of this regulation set.”
The 65-year-old chose to leave an internal power battle involving Christian Horner, who has been embroiled in a scandalous misbehavior issue since the beginning of February, despite surviving Red Bull’s own inquiry.
The purported WhatsApp discussions between Horner and a female ex-employee were then leaked to 150 journalists and prominent F1 players, adding another twist to the narrative.
As a result, much of the conversation shifted away from the team’s dominant start to the morality of Horner’s actions and his ability to lead the team moving forward, with even Jos Verstappen, Max Verstappen’s father, publicly questioning Horner’s future in the role and implying he would tear the team apart.
“All of our greatest moments from the past 20 years have come with Adrian’s hand on the technical tiller,” Horner stated in the same Red Bull news statement. “His vision and brilliance have helped us win 13 championships in 20 seasons.
“His exceptional ability to conceptualise beyond F1 and bring wider inspiration to bear on the design of grand prix cars, his remarkable talent for embracing change and finding the most rewarding areas of the rules to focus on, and his relentless will to win have helped Red Bull Racing to become a greater force than I think even the late Dietrich Mateschitz might have imagined.”
During his time at Red Bull, the team won seven world drivers’ titles and six world constructors’ championships, led by Vettel and Verstappen.
They have also won 118 races and taken 101 pole positions throughout that period, including the legendary 2007 Italian Grand Prix, which was won by Scuderia Toro Rosso (now RB).