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Red Bull has issued a statement addressing reports that Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey is set to leave the team, while Sky Sports F1’s Craig Slater reports more details on the situation.
Several credible F1 media outlets, including the BBC and Autosport, have reported that Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey is set to leave the team, and he reportedly already informed Red Bull of his decision.
The team has since issued a statement addressing these reports.
“Adrian is contracted until at last the end of 2025 and we are unaware of him joining any other team,” the statement read.
Sky Sports F1’s Craig Slater has reported more details on the situation.
“I do believe there is something in this,” Slater said.
“Certainly multiple senior figures I have spoken to have expressed to me that, yes, there is discontentment with Adrian Newey and that he is certainly seriously considering bringing his time at Red Bull to an end.
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“But what I can also say is that I have been in touch via official channels with the Red Bull team themselves and they have explained to me that they are unaware of any official communication from Newey notifying of his intention to serve notice and leave Red Bull Racing.”
Slater noted that the situation has to do with Red Bull’s internal power struggle, which was revealed to the public after team boss Christian Horner got accused of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ toward a female employee.
“I think perhaps this [the Newey reports] is more to do with the power struggle that has been the background to the Horner situation.
“It has been destabilising. I will have been a factor I think in making him question to what extent his future lies with the team.
“I have been reporting for the last few months that the key relationship at Red Bull between Newey and Horner has cooled.
“There has been more of a distance between them over these last months than there has been previously and that has had to do with some of the friction going on behind the scenes at Red Bull.
“The perceived power struggle there and also with the fact that Newey on occasion, given certain comments that have been made, has had his role within the team and his influence on designing these championship-winning cars perhaps rather undervalued with some of the comments that have come out from Red Bull.”
As for Newey’s contract situation, Slater said:
“He is contracted at Red Bull Racing until the end of 2025. As I understand it, he would have to serve another year of gardening leave were Red Bull to hold him to the full extent of his contract – which would mean he would not be able to work for another Formula 1 team until 2027.
“Red Bull, as I understand it, are also unaware of any formal approach from another Formula 1 team to Newey.
“The one or two individuals I have spoken to who are close to Newey, have said that if he is seriously considering leaving, he has not made up his mind about what direction his future career should take,” Slater concluded.
