Adrian Newey to leave Red Bull? New F1 bombshell explained

Formula 1 design Legend Adrien newie could depart Red Bull with speculation RI he wants to leave and potentially make a sensational move to a rival team we thought 2024 had gone early with its biggest Silly Season Bombshells when we scrambled to cover the news of Ls Hamilton shock switch from Mercedes to Ferrari for 2025 but this would be momentous in its own right and arguably even more so for f1's competitive picture given Red Bull's current strength newie has been a Cornerstone of Red Bull's rise to being one of f1's best teams and its current domination of the new ground effect era leaving Red Bull would Mark the end of an era that even surpasses Hamilton's time and success at Mercedes and beg the question of where he goes next and the seismic impact that could have on F1 if he did join a rival team new F1 cars have won a combined total of 25 drivers and Constructors championships across three different teams in an extraordinary career 13 of those have come with Red Bull and who would bet against two more being added to the tally this season ne's been at Red Bull Racing since joining from McLaren in 2006 and having taken on different responsibilities including engaging in non F1 projects in that time is currently the team's Chief technical officer ne's place at the team has seemed uncertain for a while though he seemed to be at risk of Red Bull phasing out his involvement and more recently the Scandal engulfing the team's leader Christian HOA has emerged as a concern there are now reports that Nei has informed Red Bull of his intention to leave all Red Bull has said officially is that Adrian is contracted until at least the end of 2025 and we are unaware of him joining any other team though that leaves obvious wiggle room for newie wanting to leave or even informing senior figures at redel of his intention to do so it is an interestingly specific reference to the length of new's contract and to the notion of him moving to arrival to stay in F1 and prepare for the new car rules in 2026 NE he would need to negotiate a shorter period of gardening leave that allows him to work at another team next year Red Bulls indicating that will not be possible and confirming new's contract runs until at least the end of 2025 implies there are mechanisms in ne's deal that could prevent him from working Elsewhere for even longer for example if the end of 2025 is the earliest that a period of gardening leag would begin that would mean not working for another team until 2027 but maybe newie has an ace up his sleeve to change that and if push comes to shove they would presumably be nothing reble can do to stop newie simply retiring really though what matters here is the suggestion that newie wants to leave and there's no smoke without fire Nei is understood to be unimpressed with the situation around herner who has been in the spotlight for months over allegations made by a female member of Staff Red Bull's parent company ordered an investigation into claims hor was inappropriate and controlling to a woman who worked for him upon that investigation's completion Red Bull gmba declared the grievance had been dismissed and Herer remained in his position but senior F1 officials others in The Paddock and many fans have been left unimpressed by how Rebel handled the entire situation privately Nei is believed to have had his own concerns and this seems to be an important factor in deciding if he wants to be part of the team longer term it's not helped that since the hor allegations came to light a deep rooted Red Bull power struggle has been publicly exposed horn faced off against yosa stappen the father of Red Bull star driver Max for stappen and had issues with Red Bull Motorsport adviser helmet Marco who has effectively run the team alongside herner since its Inception Marco signed a new contract with Redbull over the winter having looked vulnerable towards the end of 2023 he's a key figure for the vapens and it's been felt more than once that there was pressure from herner's miltton Kean side of Red Bull to force Marco out beyond that is the issue of Greater control being sought by Reel in Austria led by senior executive Oliver minsl and a possible clash between the leadership there and Rebel's Tai co-owning uidia family which is on ha's side Nei a political by Nature has always been assumed to be disinterested in such machinations and his greater concern would be that the team splitting into factions would limit its competitive potential at a time when he has less of a personal desire to remain at Red Bull than ever newie is the single most important signing in Red Bull's history and herner was a key part of pulling that off neie wrote in his Memoir that he and Herer shared the same ideology for Red Bull Racing and it has always been felt that Herer was key to keeping newie happy and engaged in the F-1 team that involved giving him the freedom to pursue different projects and be as involved as he wanted on his own terms for instance the Red Bull RB 17 hyperare is a project newie is greatly involved in and seemed sincerely excited about when that was announced in 2022 but more recently it's been suggested that her's key to wanting neing out of F1 and focused on the RB 17 project entirely possibly to keep Ferrari Target Pier vaset on board longer term Red Bull's technical structure has changed over the years in no small part to accommodate newe shifting involvement as part of that herner promoted vaset to technical director made him a more prominent spokesperson and stressed how vashe has led a team that isn't dependent on nei's genius alone Herer had even characterized it as a machine that let Nei move in and out as he pleased Nei is known to have felt he was much more influential than perhaps given credit for and once a role that doesn't carry the same risk of being marginalized as assuming ne's intention is not to retire he would be highly coveted by rival F1 teams he's been linked with moves to Ferrari and ason Martin already this year Ferrari is pushing aggressively to end its long title drought and has signed L Hamilton from Mercedes to partner charl clir for 2025 Nei has publicly lamented the fact he hasn't worked with the likes of Ferrari Hamilton or Fernando Alonzo a move to Marinello would tick off two of those in one go with new he having turned down big approaches from Ferrari in the past but Ferrari's been linked with Red Bull technical director Vas since last year and there are rumors that team boss Fred V hasn't given up that chase vaset and Red Bull Head of aerodynamics enrio Balbo were speculated to be Ferrari targets early last year and it was Herer who quelled that insisting that conversations had been had with both and that they were happy meanwhile another of ne's borderline regrets not working with Alonzo could be tackled with a move to the ambitious Aston Martin team that has been spending a lot of money to assemble a Powerhouse technical setup and will take over Red Bull's Works Honda engine deal for 202 six with Alonzo signed up for at least the first year of those new rules moving there would allow newie to stay in the UK so it seem to tick several boxes Aston Martin recently denied it had made Nei an offer to join Lawrence strolls organization stating it was satisfied with its current technical structure one of ne's former protes Dan Fallows is Aston Martin's technical director and putting him back in newi Shadow may be best avoided while the role of Chief technical officer already exists for longtime team silverston man Andrew Green Aston Martin also recently hired ex Mercedes Bob Bell from Alpine as executive director to effectively lead its 2026 car project but where newie fits in May matter less than ason Martin Simply Having the opportunity to get him so it could be a case of signing him and working out a structure later the eruption of this new speculation is a fresh blow to Red Bull that ends a short period of rest spite from the incessant scrutiny that had dogged the first few weeks of the season the Hornos Saga erupted earlier this year during car launch season and was the dominant storyline through testing and the first two race weekends little has changed in that narrative since then which meant as Red Bull continued to dominate on track its F-1 team was back in the headlines for the right reasons this changes things and as a fractured Red Bull leadership had already left rival smelling blood it would likely be talked about for a while yet Mercedes boss Tito wolf has tried to flirt with the vapens at every turn very publicly pushing a narrative that Max could be tempted to leave if Red Bull risks imploding the most serious threat to verstappen's place at Red Bull seemed to be Marco when verstappen made it clear own future was tied to the austrians but verstappen also said it was vital that Red Bull's key pillars remain in place and knew he must be considered one of them unless the VAP and Camp feels vaset is the most significant technical figure after all if vashe remains of interest to Ferrari though and speculation does persist that he could still move there then Red Bull could be at risk of all its major assets being picked away at plus newie departing could easily have the KnockOn effect of making others in the team question their Futures even if it was only Nei that left push through the exit door through a range of factors that had left him feeling Red Bull Racing isn't what it once was it still knew he that would be leaving few individuals have ever had his influence and even fewer have sustained that influence for so long he is widely regarded as the greatest F1 designer of all time for a reason losing that alone would be enough for this team to no longer be Red Bull as we know it

Channel: THE RACE

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Keywords: f1, formula 1, formula one, F1 news, F1 latest, F1 updates, F1 explained, The Race, the-race.com, grand prix, f1 2024

Id: -J2Mt4XDalA

Length: 8min 58sec (538 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2024