The news was launched by the German website Auto Motor und Sport and also confirmed on Formu1a.uno: Adrian Newey will leave Red Bull after almost 20 years of stay with the Anglo-Austrian team. This decision is not out of the blue, but a well-thought-out choice by the English designer. His choice is the result of discontent stemming from the internal problems within the team – which began in February and are still ongoing. Of course, Red Bull has worked to downplay any whispers of disagreement in media commitments.
ADRIAN NEWEY HAS DECIDED TO LEAVE RED BULL: HORNER IS NOT WORRIED – HE BETS ON WACHE AND BALBO
The situation that erupted at the beginning of February, which involved Christian Horner and, indirectly, the Verstappen family, destabilized the upper levels of the team and the (majority) Thai- owned giant.
With the death of Dieter Mateschitz, the political framework within the team changed. Horner had moved to the Thai side, with a strong interest in becoming a shareholder of the team. Yoovidhya, who holds 51% of the company, never trusted Mateschitz’s successor, Oliver Mintzlaff. This caused the Austrian side of the team to significantly lose power.
The result was a civil war. It was initially kept behind closed doors, but became abundantly clear with the outbreak of the Horner case. There has been a lot of talk about this internal tug-of-war.
The biggest talking point has been the investigation involving the current Team Principal of the world champion team. According to some sources, this enquiry was ‘piloted’ by the Thai side to protect Horner.
Christian Horner’s allegations of misconduct are understood to be why Adrian Newey decided to leave Red Bull.
However, the team denies that its designer has already announced his farewell.
Although the British engineer is often considered the architect of the cars from Milton Keynes, he was already being sidelined from the team’s projects – especially for the RB20.
The importance of Pierre Wache and Enrico Balbo has grown in recent months. Partly for this season, Christian Horner has done everything to keep the 49-year-old French engineer and the 44-year-old Italian engineer. They were targeted by other teams – but ultimately renewed at Red Bull in pursuit of continuity.
It is no coincidence that Horner, in the chaos that has hit him in recent weeks, has considered Adrian Newey as no longer so essential. Instead, full powers have been given to Pierre Wache.
Many possible options for Adrian Newey, but no certainty
What will become of the Formula 1 genius? It is difficult to imagine that an engineer considered the greatest expert in ground effect cars (which will still be in play in 2026) will be without a team.
There are three main teams that are targeting Newey: Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes.
However, his farewell from Red Bull will certainly bring other offers to the English engineer, who turns 66 in December. We already talked about the Ferrari offer a few weeks ago. The offer is there.
The team has not denied it, even if his arrival in Bologna at the end of March was not linked to discussions with the men from Maranello but to a track test with Maserati at Mugello.
