Adrian Newey, who's long been hailed as F1's greatest aerodynamic design expert, is set to leave the Red Bull team that he's called home since 2006. Red Bull's former chief technical officer will cease all F1 duties immediately and will be free to sign with a new team for the 2025 F1 season, where he'll be a major asset in capitalizing on 2026's upcoming regulation changes.
Newey's cars have won twelve World Constructor's Championships and thirteen World Driver's Championships. He's totaled more than 200 career wins.
He joined Williams Racing in 1991, where he designed cars that would win five constructor's titles and four driver's titles between 1992 and 1997, when he would leave Williams for McLaren. He won the 1998 constructor's title and the 1998 and 1999 driver's titles with McLaren, where he stayed until 2005.
Upon joining Red Bull in 2006, Newey seemed to have found his home. After a few years of development, Newey, Red Bull and driver Sebastian Vettel won the team's first driver's and constructor's titles in 2010. They'd repeat the feat in each of the next three years.
Engine regulations in 2014 killed Red Bull's competitive ability until the late 2010s, when the team began seeing wins again. Finally, in 2021, Newey's RB16B won that year's driver's title. Newey then capitalized on 2022's aerodynamic regulation changes to elevate the team above all others.
Despite enjoying an unprecedented level of dominance since 2022's regulation changes, Red Bull continue to be plagued by scandal. After cost-cap violations on their 2021 World Driver's Championship-winning RB16B were revealed in 2022, Red Bull were penalized with fines and reduced wind tunnel testing time in 2023.
Despite that, Newey and Red Bull managed to produce F1's most dominant car to date, the RB19, which won 21 of the 22 races held in 2023. Newey seemed to be in a dream position as an F1 technical officer. However, in February 2024, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was accused of inappropriate workplace conduct by a female employee.
Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing late February, but rumors kept swirling that internal issues were at play in the Red Bull garage. While it's unknown whether workplace climate contributed to Newey's exit, said exit's midseason timing is cause for speculation.
After news of his departure broke, Newey stated that he was interested in new challenges. His next destination will be the subject of much speculation in the coming days, but a few favorites have already emerged.
In recent days, Ferrari were the team most discussed as a destination for Newey. Ferrari, F1's most famous and glamorous team, made headlines earlier this year when news broke that seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton would leave Mercedes for the Scuderia in 2025.
Despite their fame, Ferrari haven't won the World Driver's Championship since 2007 and haven't won the World Constructor's Championship since 2004. The addition of both Hamilton and Newey would put Ferrari in an excellent position ahead of 2026's technical regulation changes.
Aston Martin is another team rumored to be in contention for Newey's services. Rumors have made rounds that team owner Lawrence Stroll is willing to offer Newey an unprecedented salary, though no numbers have been confirmed.
Aston Martin recently extended 42-year-old Fernando Alonso, who won the 2005 and 2006 World Driver's and Constructor's Championships with Renault. Despite his age, he's renowned as one of F1's greatest ever drivers, and fans are clamoring to see him in a top car once again.
Newey is instantly F1's hottest free agent, and teams will surely be lining up to sign him. Whichever team manages to do so may instantly become betting favorites in upcoming seasons. Red Bull will now have to find a replacement who can continue to develop an already-dominant RB20 car.
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