The news had been early by various media and has now found confirmation. Adrian Newey will leave Red Bull at the end of the season, interrupting the relationship with the Austrian team before the deadline stated in the contract. Adrian Newey's future destination is not yet known, much less the year in which he could be operational considering that Newey will move departments from F2025 to Hypercar until the first quarter of 1.
Newey, in fact, according to what Red Bull communicates, will dedicate himself to the RB2025 Hypercar in 17, and then head towards the next adventure the following year. In this way it could endorse the gardening, a topic that Red Bull does not address in the statement and head to the next team from 2026. The choice in relation to this seems to be mainly oriented towards Ferrari, ahead of the competition from Aston Martin and Mercedes. All three represent a challenge, even more so if you consider that the new regulation will debut in 2026. The fruits of Adrian's work could already be seen in the ongoing 2026 season, but above all in 2027.
A farewell not lightly
Everything seems to have happened really quickly. Since the beginning of the season, Red Bull has had to deal with a rather difficult climate in the team. The Horner case, with the accusations of harassment by a Red Bull employee, the internal trial and the acquittal, has in fact brought to light various power dynamics, which initially arose from the death of the founder of the energy drink brand, Dietrich Mateschitz. Dynamics that have generated a real earthquake in Red Bull, with a Christian Horner willing to go against everyone, even against strong points of the team such as Helmut Marko, Max Verstappen and Newey, in order to preserve his own power. Time began to flow like sand in an hourglass and the first start, linked to this new Red Bull line, was that of Adrian Newey, the father of many winning single-seaters in Red Bull.
Adrian Newey and Red Bull part ways: the announcement
Once the path was traced and Newey's replacements found, Red Bull chose to release the genius who had been holding on for years for fear that he would go to the competition. With these words the team wanted to remember and thank Newey for these 19 years spent together.
“Oracle Red Bull Racing announces that Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey will leave the Red Bull Technology Group in the first quarter of 2025. The chief engineer will step back from Formula One design duties to focus on the final development and delivery of Red Bull's first hypercar Bull, the highly anticipated RB17. He will remain involved and committed to this exciting project until its completion.
Since joining Red Bull Racing in 2006, Adrian's vision and technical leadership have been instrumental in the Team and Group achieving seven F1 Drivers' Championship titles and six Constructors' Championships, for a total of total of 118 wins and 101 poles, including the 2008 STR pole and win.”
The words of Adrian Newey
“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a designer of fast cars. My dream was to become a Formula One engineer and I was lucky enough to make this dream come true. For nearly twenty years I have had the great honor of playing a key role in Red Bull Racing's progress from a fledgling outfit to an award-winning team. However, I believe the time has come to pass the baton to others and seek new challenges for myself. In the meantime, the final stages of development of the RB17 are now upon us, so for the remainder of my time with the Team I will focus on this aspect.”
“I would like to thank the many amazing people I have worked with at Red Bull over the last 18 years for their talent, dedication and hard work. It has been a real privilege and I am sure that the engineering team is well prepared for the work to be done in the final evolution of the car over the four years foreseen by these regulations. On a personal note, I would also like to thank the shareholders, the late Dietrich Mateschitz, Mark Mateschitz and Chalerm Yoovidhya for their unwavering support during my time at Red Bull, and Christian, who was not only my business partner but also a friend of our respective families. Thanks also to Oliver Mintzlaff for managing him and to Eddie Jordan, my dear friend and manager”.
