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F1’s finest engineer Adrian Newey wants to leave Red Bull

adrian newey
Red Bull chief designer Adrian Newey. Photo/SportsRush
  • Formula One’s finest engineer and Red Bull designer Adrian Newey is looking for a new team
  • Reports are that he wants to leave Red Bull at the end of the current season
  • He is among England’s finest aeronautical engineers and his works speak as much

Formula One’s finest engineer and Red Bull designer Adrian Newey is looking at leaving the Christian Horner-led team at the end of the 2022 season.

Newey worked with McLaren until his joining Red Bull where his contract was set to end after the 2025 season.

Sections of the media in Europe reported on Thursday that he is opting out of Red Bull at the end of the 2024 season.

According to the BBC, the 65-year-old thought he could work out a deal to leave the team and join another one for the upcoming season.

Newey is yet to comment on the issue with a senior staff at Red Bull discounting the rumours saying that he will stay with the team until 2025.

Why Does Adrian Newey Want to Leave Red Bull?

Newey wants out of the Milton Keynes team following accusations against team principal Christian Horner on inappropriate behaviour reported by a female staff.

The complainant has since been suspended by Red Bull after teams parent company Red Bull GmBh cleared Horner of any wrongdoing in February.

adrian newey

Red Bull designer Adrian Newey. Photo/Sky Sports

BBC and Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport are convincingly reporting that Newey is uneasy at Red Bull with the cloud of mistrust hanging over its CEO.

The employee appealed the decision by Red Bull’s internal investigators and she was recently quizzed by the authorities.

New reports by The Sun indicate that the fresh round of the probe will continue to mid-May and Horner could be questioned once more.

Horner, 50, was interrogated for nine hours in London in the first round of the investigations conducted internally by the parent company.

However, a 79-page document of his s3xchats with the female employee was leaked a day after he was cleared.

The document was leaked to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and some journalists. She was suspended thereafter and an appeal followed.

Horner has maintained his innocence and declared that he will not resign as the team’s CEO.

Is Adrian Newey the Most Successful?

There is no denying Newey’s legacy in Formula One.  His designs have been the engine of domination for three distinct teams (Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull), with an incredible 12 Constructors’ Championships won.

In addition, drivers operating Newey’s innovations have won an incredible 13 Drivers’ Championships.  These figures provide compelling evidence that Adrian Newey is the most successful designer in Formula One history.

With three-time world champion Max Verstappen leading Red Bull, Newey has been a frequent target for elite teams. Since a majority of the F1 teams are situated in England, Newey has in the past few years been hesitant to leave.

How Much is Adrian Newey Paid?

Telegraph UK estimates Newey’s annual salary to be $18.7 million (£15 million), a package that comes with reasonable hours for self-care. But, who is Adrian Newey, the design genius top F1 teams jostle for?

lewis hamilton mercedes concerns

Red Bull 2024 car concept. Photo/Race Development

He hails from Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Born in 1958, his love of speed was evident from a young age.  He used this energy to his advantage by attending the University of Southampton to study aeronautics.  His background in flight science turned out to be the ideal starting point for his professional career.

Form and function are meticulously executed in Newey’s design work.  He carefully shapes the car’s body, wings, and other components in order to reduce drag and create downforce, which is crucial for the performance of any Formula 1 car.

Reduced drag and more downforce enhance a better grip for fast cornering. Like with the RB19 and the current RB20, Newey struck a balance between producing adequate downforce for fast corners and minimized drag making it excitedly fast.

His designs control airflow to a large extent. The form of the wings draws areas of low pressure above the vehicle, thus sucking it down.  Airflow beneath is controlled by elaborate diffusers and ducts, which increases downforce even more.

Unlike Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes W15 which is grappling with the loss of downforce, Red Bull always has a field day when manoeuvring tight curves on tracks at high speeds.

Its downforce keeps it stable, and fast. Newey’s expertise in aerodynamics is part of the success story Red Bull has.  His departure from the team would greatly affect performance in the upcoming season which promises to be fierce with Hamilton’s entry to Ferrari.

Teresa is a journalist with years of experience in creating web content. She is a wanderlust at heart, but an outgoing sports writer with focus on tennis, athletics, football, motorsports and NBA.

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