Adrian Newey has decided to leave Red Bull; the legendary F1 designer has helped the team win 13 world titles since joining in 2006; Newey is expected to attend this weekend's Miami Grand Prix; watch live on Sky Sports F1 as Miami hosts a second successive Sprint weekend
Wednesday 1 May 2024 12:09, UK
Adrian Newey is set to attend this weekend's Miami Grand Prix as the timescale of his Red Bull exit remains under discussion following his decision to leave the team.
Newey has informed senior figures at Red Bull of his desire to leave his position as chief technical officer but has not felt the need to tender an official resignation with talks over his departure progressing.
While it is not certain that Newey will remain with the team until his contract expires at the end of 2025, a sudden exit is not currently expected.
The 65-year-old has been at Red Bull since 2006, leading the design of the cars that have taken the team to all 13 of their world titles.
As reports emerged last week of Newey's intention to leave, Red Bull denied that he had resigned and appeared unready to accept a hugely successful partnership was coming to an end.
However, with there now appearing to be an acceptance that Newey's mind is made up, attention has turned to agreeing an exit that suits both parties.
Newey is said to be particularly keen not to be the focus of attention in a week that marks the 30th anniversary of Ayrton Senna's death. Newey was the chief designer at Williams at the time of Senna's fatal 1994 accident in the team's car.
Newey has not yet held any face-to-face talks with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, although the pair are expected to travel to Miami together this week.
Several other F1 teams, most notably Ferrari and Aston Martin, have been linked with moves for Newey, but he is understood to have told Red Bull that he has not signed an agreement to join one of their rivals.
In terms of results, Newey's decision to leave seems a strange one given he is overseeing one of the most dominant periods in the sport's history.
After edging out Lewis Hamilton to win his maiden drivers' title in 2021, Red Bull's Max Verstappen has dominated the last two seasons and is on track to make it four in a row in 2024.
Red Bull won all but one race last season, while Verstappen's victory in China earlier in April gave the Dutchman a 21st victory in F1's last 23 grands prix.
However, Newey's relationship with team principal Horner is understood to have cooled.
Horner said, in an interview with Autosport last year, that Red Bull's technical team were no longer "dependent" on Newey following changes to its structure.
Horner also made a comparison to football by pointing out that Manchester United remained successful after the departure of star player Eric Cantona, appearing to suggest Red Bull could continue winning without Newey.
In January, Newey's wife Amanda responded to a social media post reflecting Horner's comments by writing: "What a load of hogwash."
Newey, who rarely gives interviews, has not recently commented on his relationship with Horner but did offer praise to his colleagues when speaking to Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz following last April's Japanese Grand Prix.
In addition to possible tension between Horner and Newey, the team's success has been clouded by a period of sustained turbulence following the investigation earlier this year by their Austrian parent company into allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Horner by a female colleague.
The grievance against Horner, who has always denied the claims, was dismissed on February 28. The woman who brought the complaint has since appealed the outcome.
Following the allegations against Horner, a perceived power struggle at Red Bull has been playing out with Horner coming under heavy pressure after his star driver's father, Jos Verstappen, called for the team principal to leave.
The series of events are understood to have further disillusioned Newey, who had signed his most recent contract extension almost exactly a year ago.
Some reports have claimed Newey's contract includes a clause that would prevent him from joining another team for a year after the end of his Red Bull deal, which would mean he couldn't start work elsewhere until the start of 2027.
If he were to decide to remain in F1, Newey would be wanted by every other team on the grid, but the most likely candidates to sign him would be title-challenging hopefuls Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin.
Of the four, Newey is understood to be most interest in a move to Ferrari, which could see him work alongside Lewis Hamilton, who is joining the Italian team from Mercedes in 2025.
Aston Martin would be keen to sign Newey with team owner Lawrence Stroll willing to make a hugely lucrative offer, but the Silverstone-based squad are not confident of pulling off a deal.
Mercedes, meanwhile, have struggled since the start of the 2022 season under F1's current design regulations and appear poorly positioned to fight for titles in the short to mid-term future.
Thursday May 2
6.30pm: Drivers' press conference
Friday May 3
3pm: F1 Academy Practice 1
5pm: Miami GP Practice One (session starts at 5.30pm)
8.20pm: F1 Academy Practice 2
9pm: Miami GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 9:30pm)
Saturday May 4
3.25pm: F1 Academy Qualifying
4pm: Miami GP Sprint (race starts at 5pm)
6.30pm: Ted's Sprint Notebook
7.05pm: F1 Academy Race 1
8pm: Miami GP Qualifying build-up*
9pm: Miami GP Qualifying*
11pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday May 5
6.05pm: F1 Academy Race 2
7.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Miami GP build-up*
9pm: The MIAMI GRAND PRIX*
11pm: Chequered Flag: Miami GP reaction*
Midnight: Ted's Notebook*
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
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