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Christian Horner says Adrian Newey is “not leaving the company, but stepping aside from Formula 1”, and “it’s been something that we’ve been having to plan for”.
On Wednesday, Red Bull announced that Adrian Newey will be leaving the team in early 2025, after 19 years.
Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Red Bull’s team boss Christian Horner was asked if his departure is in any way connected to the recent ‘unrest’ within the team.
By ‘unrest’, the journalists were referring to the internal power struggle that emerged after Horner got accused of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ by a female employee of Red Bull.
“No, absolutely not,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.
“I think this has been coming for some time. There was a discussion pretty much 12 months ago that it might have been the time for Adrian to look at stepping back.
“So I know it’s been on his mind for some time, and it’s been something that we’ve been having to plan for, and what better time to go than with a run of form that we’ve had over the last couple of seasons with the way that the team is performing?
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“He’s stepping aside, not leaving the company, but stepping aside from Formula 1, while we’re right at the top of our game.
“And we’ll be very sad to see him go. He’s been an immense part of our team over the last pretty much two decades.
“But it’ll be with sadness that we see him depart,” the Briton concluded.
What Horner is probably referring to is the fact that Newey will immediately step away from Red Bull’s Formula 1 operation, but he will remain involved in the development of Red Bull’s first hyper car – the RB17.
However, in early 2025, Newey will be free to get involved in Formula 1 again with a different team, if he so chooses.
What Horner is possibly also hinting at is that Newey doesn’t want to be involved in Formula 1 at all anymore, however, it’s hard to believe that he will pass on big-money offers he likely to get from teams like Ferrari, Aston Martin, and even Mercedes.
