Adrian Newey, brilliant F1 engineer, will leave Red Bull in 2025

London. Craftsman of Red Bull’s successes in Formula 1, British engineer Adrian Newey will leave the Austrian team after almost 20 years of service and thirteen world champion titles, six for constructors and seven for drivers.

Considered one of the best engineers in the history of Formula 1, “Adrian Newey will leave Red Bull in 2025 after 19 years,” the team announced in a statement, without specifying the reason for the departure of the 65-year-old Briton, putting end to weeks of rumors surrounding the future of the British.

In its statement, Red Bull reported that Newey will step away from the F1 team until he leaves the team to dedicate himself to the project of the first ‘hypercar’ car (vehicles participating in endurance competitions) designed by the Milton Keynes team.

“My dream was to be an engineer in Formula 1 and I was lucky to fulfill it,” explained Newey, quoted in the statement, adding that “it is the right time to hand over to others and seek new challenges.”

13 titles with Red Bull

Newey, 65 years old, had worked for Red Bull since 2006 and was the great architect of the construction of the cars that won six world championship titles for constructors (2010-2013, 2022 and 2023) and seven for drivers, with the German Sebastian Vettel (from 2010 to 2013) and currently with the Dutch Max Verstappen (current triple world champion).

Previously, Newey worked for other teams such as Williams and McLaren.

“His vision and genius have helped us win 13 titles in 20 seasons,” said the great skipper of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner.

Although the team has not specified the reason for the engineer’s departure, the decision could be related to the controversy in which Horner himself was involved at the beginning of this year, when he was accused by a Red Bull employee of “behavior.” inappropriate”.

Horner always denied these accusations and at the end of February, after an internal investigation, he was acquitted, although since then the case has sparked many rumors around the team.

Bad relations with Horner?

The specialized website Motorsport reported the alleged degradation of relations between Newey and Horner, who already stated last year that “although Adrian plays an important role in this team and in what has been achieved… his role has evolved in these last years”.

“The technical team under him, led by Pierre Weché (Red Bull technical director) does a tremendous job, so it does not depend on Adrian,” he added.

Newey has one of the best track records in the history of Formula 1, with a total of 12 constructors’ championships with seven different drivers, including figures such as Alain Prost, Vettel and Verstappen.

He was the creator of the McLaren that allowed the Finnish Mikka Häkkinen to win the title in 1998 and 1999 and before that the Williams with which Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve were also crowned between 1992 and 1997.

However, it was with Red Bull where Newey sublimated his art, being the one that best adapted to the regulation changes introduced in 2022 to create an unbeatable car, winner of 17 of 22 races in 2022 and 21 of 22 a year later.

“Evolutions (of the regulations) are often the key, once the spark of a good base has been created,” he wrote in his book published in 2017 with the title “How to build a car.”

The next major evolution of the regulations will be in 2026. Will Newey continue his adventure in Formula 1 with another team?

Return to F1 with another team?

At the moment there is no official announcement in this regard, but Motorsport has already reported a great offer from Aston Martin to acquire the services of a Newey in which Ferrari, Mercedes or McLaren would also be interested.

“The teams have been trying to hire him for a long time,” said former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone this Wednesday. “Following the recent events at Red Bull, he has probably felt it is the best time to leave,” he added.

Although, according to Motorsport, there was a clause in Newey’s contract whereby he could not commit to another team until 2027, that is, one year from the end of his agreement with Red Bull, The Athletic reported this Wednesday that the engineer He has managed to make that pact void and will be a free agent.

The departure of the Englishman could also affect the future in Verstappen’s team, with a contract until 2028.

The Dutchman could leave in 2025 for Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton, already announced at Ferrari.

Although after the Chinese Grand Prix in April Verstappen assured that he had “no reason” to leave Red Bull, the Dutchman had also previously stated that “when you have a winning team, a good core of people, it is important that they remain together.”

Will Newey’s departure from Red Bull cause Verstappen’s departure?