Lewis Hamilton’s stunning decision to leave Mercedes to drive for Ferrari next year might not be the only shocking departure this Formula 1 season.
As Adrian Newey, the Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull, is reportedly set to leave the team.
According to multiple reports, Newey is “unhappy” over the internal power struggle at the team, and has been “unsettled” regarding the situation at Red Bull ever since the allegations of improper behavior were levied against Team Principal Christian Horner. On Thursday, a report surfaced in German outlet AMuS that Newey was “unhappy about the power struggle in the team and does not want to be completely pushed into the RB17 hypercar project.” According to that report, Newey is “expected to announce his departure from Red Bull soon.”
Andrew Benson, an F1 correspondent for BBC Sport, followed that with additional reporting. According to Benson, Newey “has been unsettled by the situation at Red Bull since Horner was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, abusive behaviour by a female employee, which Horner denies.”
BBC Sport continued to note that Newey’s “… desire to leave Red Bull was first reported by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, but the information has been independently verified by BBC Sport with high-level sources close to Red Bull and Newey. They confirmed that his desire to leave stems from his unhappiness over the situation involving Horner, which has led to a multi-faceted power struggle at Red Bull.”
Newey’s departure has been rumored for weeks now, and back in March there were rumblings of a shock offer from Lawrence Stroll to lure Newey to Aston Martin from Red Bull.
According to a report from Autosport, Aston Martin has made a stunning offer to lure Adrian Newey from Red Bull, to design cars for the Silverstone-based outfit. According to Autosport, team owner Lawrence Stroll “ … has now offered Newey a lucrative, alternative challenge to bookend his illustrious career, which would put him among the better-paid drivers on the grid.”
Whether these latest reports are true — and whether Aston Martin could be the destination or, as AMuS speculates, Ferrari is Newey’s next stop — remains to be seen. But the idea of F1’s greatest engineer leaving Red Bull for another team, and taking his trusty notebook with him, could truly rock the sport.
