Adrian Newey the head designer of Red Bull Racing announced this morning that he will be leaving Red Bull Racing in the first quarter of 2025. Leaving in March 2025 helps protect Red Bull because all the other competitors would have been running their new car for the 2025 season already.
If Newey had left in December of 2024 their would have to be restrictions in place by barring Newey from working for any competitor. This is known as gardening leave where you have to cut all ties with the sport and sit out a period of time whether it is for 6 or 12 months. I think the problem is the Red Bull car is a Newey design and concept and the Red Bull team could hide nothing from him as this is his car.
Amongst other things the car will be 10 cm narrower along with moving aerodynamic parts which Newey is a genius with.
With Newey only leaving in March he is not seen as a threat and has been given permission allowing him to work on a car for the 2026 season. This actually works out quite well because there are new strict regulations for the 2026 cars. 3 x more electric power than compared to today plus less fuel on board so the result is a lighter car.
How will this affect Red Bull because the facts are it will set them back massively with Newey not building their new 2026 vehicle. Christian Horner recently said it would not be a big blow if Newey left because his input on their racing car is minimal. Newey's wife responded with "bollocks" and every racing fan knows Red Bull without Newey is just a regular racing team and the glory years will be over.
13 constructor titles within a 20 year period tells us how good he is and Ferrari with Newey on board will become the new dominant force. The scary thought is Newey will have 9 months solely concentrating on the 2026 car and will have the freedom to do anything he wants.
We saw the impact on the sport when Mercedes lost over 20 technicians to Red Bull a few years ago from which Mercedes never recovered from. What comes to mind here is what goes around comes around and Red Bull had this coming. This is their worst nightmare coming true and more about trying to hold on to what they have because there will be other departures maybe even following Newey across to Ferrari.
Formula One employs the top aerodynamic brains in the world and Newey is head and shoulders above all of them by some distance. Mercedes had all the tech gadgets that enabled them to dominate the sport for 7 years whilst the others learned what they were missing and have since caught up. The difference here is you cannot purchase or replace the brains that can turn a car into a winning car because this sport is not about the driver and has proven anyone can win if given the right tools.