The sweepstakes for legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey’s service began as soon as he announced his upcoming departure from Red Bull Racing at the start of May. While rival teams openly pined for Newey’s signature on a contract, others speculated that he could simply retire. However, in an interview on Thursday, Newey told the BBC that he’ll likely join another team.
The 65-year-old decided to leave the reigning world champions in the wake of inappropriate behavior allegations made against team principal Christian Horner. Red Bull stated that Newey will leave the team during the first quarter of 2025. In the meantime, he will attend select races with the team and finalize the Red Bull’s production hypercar, the RB17. Crucially, he will not be required to take “gardening leave” and leave F1 for a period of time, meaning that he could immediately jump ship to a different team next year.
F1’s teams are preparing for huge development pushes next year as the 2026 season’s massive regulation changes will undoubtedly shake up the championship’s pecking order. Newey’s expertise and experience would lend an upper hand to whatever team is able to sign him. Cars designed by Newey have won 12 World Constructors’ Championships; six of those titles were taken by Red Bulls since 2010.
Rumors are swirling that he could be making his way to Maranello. Earlier this year, Newey commented that he has always wanted to work with Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari in light of Hamilton’s announcement of his own move to the Italian team in 2025. Although, he might just take a break and watch how things develop across the field. Newey told the BBC, “I feel a little bit tired at the moment, but at some point I’ll probably go again.” He made it clear that he wants to keep working. He’s still one of the sharpest minds in Formula 1 and a figure that a team could build a championship effort around.