ANALYSIS: What's next for the legendary designer?

After some speculation, the cat is out of the bag — one of the most iconic, successful partnerships in Formula One (F1) history will end. 

Legendary designer Adrian Newey will officially leave Red Bull in the first quarter of 2025. Red Bull Racing's long-time Chief Technological Officer, who has a hand in designing all their title-winning cars, is finally leaving the team.

But what caused this? Why is Newey choosing to leave a team with which he has won seven driver's championships and six constructor's championships?

The turmoil at Red Bull 

Amidst the success of their dominant title defence last year, Red Bull was embroiled in controversy when their team principal, Christian Horner, was involved in a misconduct scandal. The scandal concerned a female employee at Red Bull Racing, but the specific details have not been disclosed.

While this was going on, the internal conflict within the Red Bull organization began to rear its ugly head. The Thai owners (who control 51% of the Red Bull organization) started feuding with the Austrian owners (who control 49% of the organization). This was triggered by co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz's death in October 2022. The Thai owners have expressed their support for Christian Horner throughout this entire ordeal.

What's more, Dietrich's death also led to the elevation of Oliver Minzlaff (former Chief Executive Officer of RB Leipzig, Red Bull's Association Football team in Germany) to the post of Corporate Projects and New Investments which includes both the Red Bull Racing and Visa CashApp RB F1 teams. The Austrian faction of Red Bull have expressed disappointment with Christian Horner and put their support behind their motorsports advisor, Dr. Helmut Marko.

Red Bull's superstar triple world champion Max Verstappen has also been rumoured to leave the Austrian team in solidarity with Marko, which has been ably supported by rampant speculation that Mercedes are attempting a sensational move for the Dutchman.

Adrian Newey — famous for his distaste for backroom politics with teams he has been affiliated with in F1 (as seen with his past departures from Williams and Mclaren) — has remained silent throughout this process. Rumours have it that he would also leave the racing team for a while before the official announcement. 

What happens next?

According to Red Bull Racing’s statement on the departure, Adrian Newey will now take a back seat to focus on developing Red Bull’s highly anticipated RB17 hypercar for the remainder of the year whilst attending sporadic race meetings.

Red Bull Racing’s 2025 car would still bear some of Adrian Newey’s fingerprints, but the final concept and design would be finalised without him. The cars competing in the new rules cycle 2026 would feature the first Adrian Newey-less Red Bull cars since 2005.

What is a Gardening Leave?

One of the most intriguing questions surrounding Newey's departure is when rival teams would be able to hire the services of the legendary designer. That answer boils down to whether he needs to and when he would serve his gardening leave. 

The term originated from the British Civil Service, where civil servants are entitled to request leave for 'exceptional' purposes. Over time, this became a euphemism for a notice period away from your incumbent employer to protect sensitive confidential data from being leaked.

In F1, gardening leave is a widespread practice due to the highly technical nature of the sport, requiring confidentiality even when employees move between teams. As such, there is an understanding that key employees in F1 teams would spend some time away from their incumbent team when they leave. 

As such, the fear of corporate espionage and information leakage is a big concern within the sport. Gardening leave mitigates the risk of leakage of important confidential information leaked by way of a photocopier — such as the Spygate 2007 incident — or ex-employees of a demised team bringing new innovations to their new teams. 

An excellent example of the latter was the double diffusers in 2009. Both Toyota and Williams worked on it during that season in addition to the title winning Brawn team, all of which was rumoured to be a legacy of the closure of Super Aguri and the subsequent cross-pollination of ideas within the three teams.

Why Adrian Newey’s situation is slightly different 

Red Bull has tasked him with working on their upcoming Hypercar, the eagerly anticipated RB17, in lieu of continued involvement with the racing team. As such, he will not have a traditional gardening leave away from all elements of the Red Bull organisation, merely away from the racing outfit.

This option is available to Red Bull as they have already commenced work on the RB17 and have prior involvement with the Valkyrie in collaboration with Aston Martin. It is largely assumed that this option mainly exists for larger organisations with autonomous divisions for different projects (such as Ferrari with their World Endurance efforts or Mclaren with their Indycar team).

In addition, given Adrian Newey's stature in the sport and the team—plus some additional persuasion from Newey's manager, Eddie Jordan—the Chief Technical Officer's current arrangement keeps him while keeping the corporate bigwigs at Red Bull happy.

Where could Newey end up in the future?

With all that in mind, let’s look at some potential destinations that Adrian Newey might head to.

Ferrari

Over the years, Ferrari made several attempts to court Adrian Newey for joining the team. On paper, it's a move that makes sense — a highly successful individual in the sport moving to one of the most successful teams in F1 history. After all, it's a romantic tale that tempted even Lewis Hamilton, who will make the sensational switch to Ferrari in 2025.

Under the leadership of Fred Vasseur, Ferrari is on the right course following the various low points of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, where they failed to score a win in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1990s.

After many years of battling Newey designed cars, could the Prancing Horse finally race one of his genius designs driven by the legendary Lewis Hamilton? It is a tantalising prospect and only time will tell if this dream becomes a reality. 

Aston Martin

When Lawrence Stroll rebranded Racing Point into Aston Martin, the millionaire quickly established his reputation through his immense wealth and ability to secure core talents for this ambitious project — like hiring Newey's deputy Dan Fallows and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. 

Beyond this, his investments into the team's Silverstone facility and a prospective push for entry into the World Endurance Championship marks Aston Martin as a highly ambitious outfit. 

Armed with its looming status as the Honda works team in 2026 and a strong prior working relationship with Aston Martin — established during their successful collaboration on the Aston Martin Valkyrie — Aston Martin has some merit behind its bid to lure Adrian Newey to its burgeoning project.

However, the latest reports suggest that Aston Martin's quest to secure Adrian Newey's services looks dead on arrival as the Red Bull man is "not interested" in Aston Martin.

Mercedes

The Silver Arrows, a force to be reckoned with, had a remarkable run in the V6 Turbo Hybrid era. Their eight consecutive Constructors Championships and seven consecutive Drivers Championships marked an age of unparalleled dominance. However, this era came to an abrupt halt with the advent of the new ground effect era in 2022.

Mercedes has been playing second fiddle to Red Bull partly due to the ongoing porpoising issue plaguing its cars. Could the solution be to recruit the best technical mind of his generation?

Sadly, Mercedes F1 Team principal Toto Woolf has quashed rumours that his team could be in the swoop for Adrian Newey, stating that the situation is exciting for him merely as a fan.

Williams

What if Newey heads back to where it all began for him (sort of)? Adrian Newey’s F1 legacy effectively kicked into life with his stint as the Chief Designer on the all-conquering Williams in the 1990s before they slipped to the back of the F1 grid in the modern day.

Williams, under James Vowles, has made some impressive signings, such as Pat Fry from Alpine, and has made notable progress after years of being mired to the back.

Various media outlets have reported that Williams has had talks with Newey. Adrian Newey could be tempted to right what was once wrong, gain some team equity, and return the Grove team to the top.

Retirement

Adrian Newey has had plenty of success in Formula 1 dating back to the early 1990s with Williams. Given his age — 65 — there is a real possibility he will walk away from Formula 1 for good. 

“Formula 1’s all-consuming – I’ve been at it for a long time now,” he reflected in an interview with F1. 

“2021 was a really busy year because of the tight battle with Mercedes through the championship and, at the same time, putting all the research and development into the [RB]18, which was the father of this generation of cars.

He adds: “There comes a point I think where I just felt, as Forrest Gump said, ‘a little bit tired’.” On that note, retirement could be a well-deserved break for the legendary technical mind. 

Something else

Lastly, what if Newey's future lies beyond F1?

Adrian Newey could return to the American Indycar series. After all, that's where he spent his early years in motorsports and developed a close friendship with Bobby Rahal.

He could also start enjoying his yachts and become more avidly involved in sailing around the world. Recently, he had commissioned a new sailing yacht from Oyster.

Or he could follow in the footsteps of his long-time rival Ross Brawn, who became more involved with the FIA or Formula One Management after his final stint in a team role with Mercedes.

What are your thoughts on Adrian Newey’s future? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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This newsletter was written by Jonathan Khoo and edited by Hew Hoong Liang (Nathan).

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