Aston Martin's Technical Managing Partner, Adrian Newey breaks his silence on his decision to part ways with Red Bull during the 2024 Formula 1 season. Newey played an integral part in Red Bull's success ever since he joined them back in 2006.
Why did Adrian Newey left Red Bull?
The decision to leave Red Bull came as a surprise for everybody as under his designs, the team won eight Driver's and seven Constructors' Championships. The team even enjoyed two separate dominating periods from 2010-13 and 2022-24.
In a recent interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Newey explained the reason behind his exit from the Milton-Keynes outfit.
I think if you'd said to me 12 months ago, would I be leaving Red Bull and then now ultimately starting again, I'd have said 'No, you're crazy'. But for various reasons, I felt I wouldn't be true to myself if I stayed at Red Bull. So the first difficult decision was exactly that: do I stay or not at Red Bull? So I obviously came to conclusion that, in being honest to myself, I couldn't, Newey said.
It was reported that team principal Christian Horner even mentioned that Newey was not 'too involved' in the designing of the 2023 and 2024 cars. Following his departure, the team lost their way in the Constructors' standings as they finished the season third, behind Ferrari and McLaren. But, the only positive from the 2024 season was Max Verstappen winning his fourth consecutive title.
'Become more difficult to drive' says Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey believed that the driveability of the Red Bull cars had taken a dip in the 2023 season and 2024 was the boiling point of that. He also spoke about the difference in performance between Verstappen and ousted Sergio Perez.
Already through the very last stages of '23, the car was starting to become more difficult to drive. Of course that suited Max – he could handle that, if you like. It didn't suit him, but he could handle it. Checo couldn't. It's something I was starting to become concerned about, but not many other people in the organization seemed to be very concerned about it, Newey added.
And from what I can see from the outside, but I don't know… The guys at Red Bull, this is no criticism, but I think they just – perhaps through lack of experience – kept going in that same direction, Newey concluded.
Adrian Newey will start his tenure at Aston Martin on March 1 and will look to develop the 2026 car according to the new engine regulations.