It’s been suggested that Adrian Newey might part ways with Red Bull, even forfeiting a staggering salary of £10 million annually. Since he arrived from McLaren in 2006, Newey has been a pivotal figure in Red Bull’s success, crafting championship-winning cars for Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
Red Bull currently reigns as the dominant force in Formula 1, with Verstappen alone securing victory in 48 out of the last 71 races since his inaugural championship-winning season in 2021.
Despite sealing a new long-term contract less than a year ago, rumors surfaced this week indicating Newey’s desire to depart from Red Bull.
The speculations surrounding Newey’s potential exit coincide with the prevailing uncertainty surrounding the Red Bull team. Recent rumors have hinted at Aston Martin and Ferrari vying to take advantage of the situation by extending contract offers to the 65-year-old designer.
Addressing the swirling rumors, a spokesperson for Red Bull clarified, “Adrian is contracted until at least the end of 2025. We are unaware of him joining any other team.”
The value of Adrian Newey to Red Bull has been uncovered, with the Daily Mail reporting that ‘conservative estimates’ suggest he was rewarded with a £10 million per year contract in early 2020. However, it’s believed that the actual figure could be much higher.
These revelations about Newey’s salary emerged after a video resurfaced, showing Newey expressing his deep attachment to Red Bull in December 2023. He likened leaving the team at this stage of his career to “walking out on your family.”
During an appearance on the Formula For Success podcast recorded late last year, Newey also confessed his admiration for Ferrari.
He disclosed that he had come close to joining the Scuderia on three separate occasions throughout his illustrious career, saying, “Ferrari is this magical brand that, in all honesty, probably everybody in motor racing is always fascinated by and tempted to join if they’re offered the opportunity.
“I’ve been approached – and come close – three times now. One of those was in IndyCars way back. It’s an amazing brand. It has all this mystique about it. It’s effectively the Italian national team, with all the pros and cons that come with that.
“The cons are that if you don’t do a great job, you are absolutely berated and torn apart. Of course, if you do a good job, then you’re a national hero. So that brings all its own pressures.
“But I have to try to take the passion side out of it and approach it from an engineering side. The teams I’ve worked for, I’ve hugely enjoyed, and of course, Red Bull because that’s a team I’ve been at, more or less, from the start.
“It’s a team that I’ve been very centrally involved in developing the engineering side of the team, so it’s a team I kind of feel comfortable with. We all know how we work.
“I suppose to change now – I’m not saying I would never, ever change because you should never say that – but it would be like walking out on your family because that’s what it’s become.”
