Red Bull Racing confirms departure of top designer Adrian Newey in wake of internal power struggle

Various well-informed motorsport media reported last week that Newey was about to leave the Red Bull Formula 1 team. The racing stable confirmed the news on Wednesday. “We would like to thank Adrian for what we have achieved in the period we have worked together so far,” the statement said. He will focus on the development and delivery of Red Bull’s first hypercar, the long-awaited RB17.

The 65-year-old Newey worked at Red Bull for almost twenty years and designed the cars in which Sebastian Vettel won four and Max Verstappen three world titles. Verstappen has a super fast car again this season and is well on his way to his fourth world title.

According to motorsport media, Newey wanted to leave because there was still an internal power struggle within the Red Bull team. Team boss Christian Horner has the support of Thai businessman Chalerm Yoovidhya, who owns 51 percent of the shares. Top advisor Helmut Marko is on the side of the Austrian owners of Red Bull. Newey would also not feel good about the affair surrounding Horner, who was acquitted in the complaint of inappropriate behavior against an employee.

Before Newey started working at Red Bull, he had already made his mark in Formula 1 by designing the Williams in which Damon Hill won the world title in 1996. He also invented the McLaren in which the Finn Mika Häkkinen became world champion twice.