Adrian Newey: Red Bull confirm exit of chief technical officer in early 2025

Red Bull have confirmed legendary Formula 1 designer Adrian Newey will leave the team in the first quarter of 2025.

Sky Sports News understands Newey will not have to serve a period of gardening leave when he leaves next year, leaving him free to join another Formula 1 team to help design their 2026 car.

Several teams have been linked with moves for Newey with Ferrari – who have seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton joining them in 2025 – appearing favourites to sign him.

Sky Sports News reported last week that Newey had informally told the team of his desire to leave. Red Bull confirmed he will immediately step back from his Formula 1 design duties to “focus on final development and delivery of Red Bull’s first hypercar, the hugely anticipated RB17”.

Newey has been at Red Bull since 2006, leading the design of the cars that have taken the team to all 13 of their world titles, and team principal Christian Horner said the 65-year-old leaves the team as a “true legend”.

Newey said: “Ever since I was a young boy, I wanted to be a designer of fast cars. My dream was to be an engineer in Formula 1, and I’ve been lucky enough to make that dream a reality.

“For almost two decades it has been my great honour to have played a key role in Red Bull Racing’s progress from upstart newcomer 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.

“I would like to thank the many amazing people I have worked with at Red Bull in our journey over the last 18 years for their talent, dedication and hard work.

“In the interim, the final stages of development of RB17 are upon us, so for the remainder of my time with the team my focus will lie there.

“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.”

Newey had signed a contract extension last year to remain with Red Bull until the end of 2025, but the team had had to persuade him to stay as his hands-on role has been shrinking over the past couple of years.

Technical director Pierre Wache, who had been linked with a move to Ferrari himself last year, signed a contract extension with Red Bull in February and appears to be Newey’s likely successor as chief technical officer.

In terms of results, Newey’s decision to leave seems a strange one given he is overseeing one of the most dominant periods in the sport’s history.

After edging out Lewis Hamilton to win his maiden drivers’ title in 2021, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has dominated the last two seasons and is on track to make it four in a row in 2024. Red Bull won all but one race last season, while Verstappen’s victory in China earlier in April gave the Dutchman a 21st victory in F1’s last 23 grands prix.

However, Newey’s relationship with team principal Horner is understood to have cooled. In an interview with Autosport last year, Horner said that Red Bull’s technical team were no longer “dependent” on Newey following changes to its structure.

Horner also made a comparison to football by pointing out that Manchester United remained successful after the departure of star player Eric Cantona, appearing to suggest Red Bull could continue winning without Newey.

In addition to possible tension between Horner and Newey, the team’s success has been clouded by a period of sustained turbulence following the investigation earlier this year by their Austrian parent company into allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Horner by a female colleague. The grievance against Horner, who has always denied the claims, was dismissed on February 28. The woman who brought the complaint has since appealed the outcome.

Following the allegations against Horner, a perceived power struggle at Red Bull has been playing out with Horner coming under heavy pressure after his star driver’s father, Jos Verstappen, called for the team principal to leave.

The series of events are understood to have further disillusioned Newey. However, while his relationship with Horner has cooled, the pair are still due to fly to this weekend’s Miami GP together, with Newey to still attend other select grands prix in the 2024 season.

Paying tribute to Newey, Horner said: “All of our greatest moments from the past 20 years have come with Adrian’s hand on the technical tiller. His vision and brilliance have helped us to 13 titles 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.

“More than that, the past 19 years with Adrian have been enormous fun. For me, when Adrian joined Red Bull, he was already a superstar designer.

“Two decades and 13 Championships later he leaves as a true legend.

“He is also my friend and someone I will be eternally grateful to for everything he brought to our partnership. The legacy he leaves behind will echo through the halls of Milton Keynes and RB17 Track Car will be a fitting testament and legacy to his time with us.”

Newey is one of the most revered and successful figures in Formula 1’s history and had previously designed multiple title-winning cars for McLaren and Williams before being convinced by Horner to join a then-fledgling Red Bull team in 2006.

Sky Sports F1’s live Miami GP schedule

Thursday May 2
6.30pm: Drivers’ press conference

Friday May 3
3pm: F1 Academy Practice 1
5pm: Miami GP Practice One (session starts at 5.30pm)
8.20pm: F1 Academy Practice 2
9pm: Miami GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 9:30pm)

Saturday May 4
3.25pm: F1 Academy Qualifying
4pm: Miami GP Sprint (race starts at 5pm)
6.30pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
7.05pm: F1 Academy Race 1
8pm: Miami GP Qualifying build-up*
9pm: Miami GP Qualifying*
11pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday May 5
6.05pm: F1 Academy Race 2
7.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Miami GP build-up*
9pm: The MIAMI GRAND PRIX*
11pm: Chequered Flag: Miami GP reaction*
Midnight: Ted’s Notebook*

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event

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