Red Bull retains Adrian Newey but on other projects
As the paddock buzzed with rumors about Adrian Newey's future, Red Bull announced that an agreement had been reached to continue their association. Nevertheless, the engineer will focus on projects other than F1 within the Milton Keynes team.
This is therefore a turning point in the team’s life as Adrian Newey will no longer be involved in the daily development of future cars but will only have an advisory role, allowing him to exercise his talents in other sectors beyond Formula 1 while remaining within Red Bull’s fold.
To justify his decision, the design genius explained to Autosport that he felt the new F1 rules had become too restrictive, hindering his research potential. He therefore prefers to explore new areas where he can give free rein to his imagination: « To be completely honest, the current regulations are very restrictive, which is really unfortunate. It’s difficult to find new areas to explore because they are too limited. At the same time, I would like to see if I can apply my talent, whatever that means, to other sectors. »
This announcement does not mean that he is leaving his position immediately. He plans to use the coming months to establish the structure that will replace him while catching up on the delay with Mercedes: « I will be fully involved with the team in the coming months. In the meantime, we will see how the engineering structure will function in the future. When I am fully involved in the new projects, I will take a step back and have more of a consulting and mentoring role for some of my colleagues. If they have any questions or want any advice, I will be available. »
For Red Bull, this allows Adrian Newey to explore new research topics while preventing him from leaving for the competition, which would have been the worst situation for the team. Thus, there is the undisguised satisfaction of Christian Horner, the team director, for having found this compromise: I think Adrian has reached a point where he wants new challenges. It’s very good news for the team and Red Bull that we have a multi-year agreement, and it’s exciting for Adrian. He has always appreciated the Red Bull environment and enjoys working with the people here. So the discussion was quite quick in the end.
Nonetheless, Adrian Newey is keen to point out that he is not turning his back on F1 for good and could make a return if the current regulations were to change.
With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr
