Red Bull will wave goodbye to long-serving technical chief Newey in the first few months of 2025. The 65-year-old, who has been partially responsible for Verstappen Jnr’s success in recent years, has been strongly linked with a move to Ferrari where he would link up with Lewis Hamilton next year.
Newey’s understanding of aerodynamics placed Red Bull ahead of their rivals after sweeping regulation changes were made at the start of 2022. But he will leave with decades of knowledge in a major blow to the Milton Keynes-based team.
In the wake of Newey’s exit, Verstappen has warned Red Bull that they are at risk of ‘falling apart’ and must keep key personnel in order to continue their dominance in Formula One. He referenced the reports from earlier in the year that claimed technical advisor Helmut Marko was close to leaving.
“The team is in danger of falling apart. I was already afraid of that earlier this year. It is important for internal peace that the key figures remain on board,” Verstappen told De Telegraaf.
“That is not the case now. Newey is leaving and earlier this year it also looked like Helmut would be sent away. That is not good for the future.”
Newey was lured to Red Bull by Horner nearly 20 years ago, leaving McLaren where he had earned a reputation as one of the sport’s brightest technicians. The duo have overseen drivers’ titles in that time, across spells of dominance for Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.
Rumours of Newey’s impending exit intensified last week, with Red Bull initially claiming that they knew nothing of the veteran’s desire to move on. A deal has now been agreed for Newey to leave in the first quarter of 2025.
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.”
