Red Bull team principal Christian Horner denied there is any connection between the tensions within the team arising from allegations made against him earlier this year and Adrian Newey’s decision to leave.
Horner claimed Newey’s departure had been expected for some time and insisted the team is “well set up” to continue their success after he leaves. Newey will depart next year, ending his longest spell at any team during his enormously successful career.Horner said Newey had decided it was the “right time” for him to step down from the company. “Adrian has had such a wonderful career,” Horner told Sky. “He’s been hard at it the last 30 years. Obviously was seven years with Williams, he’s done seven years with McLaren and then he’s done the best part of 20 years with ourselves.
“I think, just speaking with him, he’s reached a point where the team’s in great, great shape – we’re performing at such a high level – he feels that now is the right time for him to step away, take a bit of time out. He’s still going to be working on his RB17, the track car that we’re designing, but he felt that now was the time to take a break.”
Despite their continued on-track success, Red Bull have been at the centre of speculation for much of the year due to allegations made by a staff member against Horner, which he denies. Asked if Newey’s departure was related to the turmoil, Horner insisted “no, absolutely not.”
“I think this has been coming for some time,” he continued. “There was discussion, pretty much 12 months ago, that it might have been the time for Adrian to look at stepping back.
“So I know it’s been on his mind for some time and it’s been something that we’ve been having to plan for. And what better time to go than with a run of form that we’ve had over the last couple of seasons with the way the team is performing.
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“He’s stepping aside, not leaving the company, but stepping aside from Formula 1, while we’re right at the top of our game. We’ll be very sad to see him go. He’s been an immense part of our team over the last, pretty much. Two decades. But it will be with sadness that we see him depart, but also the show goes on.”
Despite Red Bull having made significant leaps in performance after major technical regulation changes in 2009 and 2022, Horner does not believe his team will feel Newey’s loss for the next major regulations overhaul for 2026.
“The ironic thing is he’s always hated every single regulation change”, Horner said, “and 2026 is a unique one, because it’s both chassis and engine regs. But it’s a very different world these days with the cost cap and the restrictions that we have on resources.”
Newey’s departure will not prompt a ‘brain drain’ of technical talents to other teams, Horner insists.
“Our key pillars are in place for the future,” he said. “The technical team are all on long-term contracts. We’ve been having to think about this moment for some time.
“It was always going to come at some point. I think the structure that we’ve got in place, which Adrian has helped contribute to morph and mould into the package that it now is, is well set to take up the baton and continue to produce fantastic cars like we have this year.”
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Amid reports linking Newey to various Red Bull rivals, Horner believes that he will step away from F1 at first if he is to then decide to return to the sport.
“I think he’s going to take some time out first and think about it,” he said.
“He’s 65 years of age – I think he’s earned that right to have a bit of time out, spend some time with his wife and family and that’s what he’s very keen to do. And then if he decides that he wants to have another run at Formula 1, who knows?”
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ppzzus (@ppzzus)
3rd May 2024, 20:57
The fact that Newey was able to get his contract length and gardening leave reduced basically confirms he knows something Christian doesn’t want to come out.
Moi
3rd May 2024, 21:21
No, it doesn’t. The reduced gardening leave has not even been confirmed as far as I have heard, let alone that the reason behind it is known.
‘Basically confirmed’ these days seems to mean ‘I’d like to believe but have no facts whatsoever to base my speculation on’ .
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
3rd May 2024, 21:48
The gardening leave and contract reduction has been confirmed. Why else would red bull let him out if his contract early and eliminate the gardening leave? Red bull should’ve been in a position of absolute power contractually.
Ben
3rd May 2024, 22:10
I’m not sure which jurisdiction their contract would fall under, but the rumoured 2(?) year gardening leave would probably be judged pretty onerous.
Do they want to fight that, or do they take the view that they’ve had his expertise for 20 years, avoid any further friction/bad publicity, and possibly have some financial compensation for it?
I defer to anyone with actual legal knowledge!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
3rd May 2024, 22:15
Wonder he could have achieved growing roses up an aero rake from pre-season testing.
Jungle
4th May 2024, 0:19
Think his new project will be to design a state of the art wheelbarrow in the wind tunnel.
Shimks (@shimks)
5th May 2024, 20:59
That made me laugh!
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
4th May 2024, 17:13
I very much doubt it has anything to do with him having dirt on anyone. I think the media are blowing things up and and making everyone believe false stories tbh. I can accept Newey almost left last year and they had talks about preparing going forward. I can also believe the infighting between different factions accelerated his decision to get out as soon as he could.
Kringle
3rd May 2024, 22:34
I’M A REAL BOY!
dot_com (@dot_com)
3rd May 2024, 23:31
Must just be a coincidence then. Horner says so. Case closed.
Sham (@sham)
4th May 2024, 7:08
Well, I’m convinced. Thanks, Christian.
Sham (@sham)
4th May 2024, 7:09
Warning, the above post may contain sarcasm. Please do not read it if you are allergic to sarcasm or any of it’s ingredients.
SteveP
4th May 2024, 8:09
Me too. I never believed that FIA story about a cost cap breach, either.
BTW. What did happen to that legal action that CH was going to take against all the nasty people that said there was a breach?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th May 2024, 12:16
I guess the penalty was light enough there was no risk to embark on legal proceedings that might not succeed.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th May 2024, 12:16
no reason to risk embarking*
w0o0dy (@w0o0dy)
4th May 2024, 8:04
Everyone that has seen the video of Horner congratulating the people on the pit-wall and completely ignoring Newey and Marko (that were standing together a few meters away, knows Horner is lying his a$$ off. On top of that… The woman making the allegations against Horner was also Neweys assistent… And of course Newey doesn’t care…. Sure dude. Keep up the lying, we all buy it, NOT!
w0o0dy (@w0o0dy)
4th May 2024, 8:05
Everyone that has seen the video of Horner congratulating the people on the pit-wall and completely ignoring Newey and Marko (that were standing together a few meters away, knows Horner is lying his a** off. On top of that… The woman making the allegations against Horner was also Neweys assistent… And of course Newey doesn’t care…. Sure dude. Keep up the lying, we all buy it…. NOT!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th May 2024, 12:17
As expected, a lot of comments not believing horner, BUT when he mentioned newey was already thinking about leaving a year ago he’s right, because there’s been reports that reached us fans even then, which confirm it’s not the key reason for leaving, because the allegations weren’t around back then.