Red Bull and Newey confirm split

The break up of the dominant union between Red Bull and Adrian Newey is now offical, with the legendary engineer to leave at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

After weeks of speculation, Red Bull has confirmed Newey’s departure on the eve of the Miami Grand Prix this weekend.

Despite the news, Newey will attend the sixth round of the season and will be present in the Red Bull garage for the remainder of the year.

In addition to helping the team chase a fourth straight world drivers title with Max Verstappen and third straight constructors title in 2024, Newey will also aim to complete the RB17 hypercar before Goodwood and his departure.

“Adrian will focus on final development and delivery of Red Bull’s first hypercar, his highly anticipated RB17 set to be unveiled at Goodwood in July,” read a Red Bull team statement.

The legendary 65-year-old designer entered the F1 world with March/Leyton House in 1988 before moving to Williams and creating some of the most dominant and iconic cars ever in 1992 and 1993.

From 1997-2005 Newey was a key player at McLaren and immediately helped the team rise from a shocking 1996 to scoring wins in 1997 before back to back titles with Mika Hakkinen.

Since 2006 Newey has been the mastermind behind Red Bull’s rise from being a newcomer to the dominant force of Formula 1 and breaking all sorts of records with Max Verstappen.

All up Newey has won 13 drivers and 12 constructors titles and more than 200 Grands Prix.

Newey believes now is the right time to take a step back.

“Ever since I was a young boy, I wanted to be a designer of fast cars,” he said.

“My dream was to be an engineer in F1, 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. 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.”

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner paid tribute and said Newey was one of the biggest reasons why the team rose from a small team to dominators.

“All of our greatest moments from the past 20 years have come with Adrian’s hand on the technical tiller,” Horner said.

“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.”

Where Newey goes next is arguably the biggest piece of the Formula 1 silly season with Ferrari and Aston Martin favourites if he does not elect to breakaway from motor racing and go sailing instead.

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

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