3 key factors that possibly contributed to Adrian Newey's departure from Red Bull

If reports are to be believed, then Adrian Newey is on his way out of Red Bull. The aero wizard has been part of the team since 2006, a relationship that began when Christian Horner approached him for a move from McLaren.

Since then, Adrian Newey's success at Red Bull has been unprecedented. This was a drinks company owning a racing team, and not much should have been expected of it.

But what happened was quite the contrary. Red Bull first won a race in 2009. In 2010, the team won both championships and went on a four-year unbeaten run.

After being blindsided in 2014 by the new turbo hybrid regulations, Adrian Newey's magic worked once again in 2021 as Max Verstappen won his first title. Since then, Red Bull has grown from strength to strength. The team is coming off the most dominant season in F1 history, and looking at its performance in 2024, it could repeat or do better than last season.

What happened then for Adrian Newey to take the plunge? Why did he decide that this was the right time to make the move away from the team he had nurtured? While the answer will only be known when Newey talks about it, a few factors could have impacted the final decision. Let's take a look.

#1 Red Bull internal politics

There's no doubt that Red Bull's internal politics were as surprising for the people on the outside as they were for the people within the team. The nature in which Christian Horner's internal investigation was turned into a media trial was strange, and one could claim that a part of it would have surprised the personnel inside the team as well.

Red Bull has prided itself on being a team where political disturbance doesn't play a role, and that has been the case for the most part. The internal power struggle where Horner was the epicenter and was even involved in an alleged sexual harassment investigation is something Adrian Newey might have considered a step too far.

Adrian Newey has never been someone too engulfed in internal politics within a team, and it does appear that this played a role in his call as well.

#2 Adrian Newey's possible sidelining

In what was a somewhat strange turn of events at Red Bull last year, there were a couple of comments made by Christian Horner where he commended not only Adrian Newey but the team under him for the results that were achieved.

There were comments made by Christian Horner about how the design team had evolved over the years and isn't overly reliant on Adrian now. There have been suggestions that Newey has been told to focus on the hypercar project.

Did this sidelining lead to discontent? There were instances where Newey's wife had also commented on X (formerly Twitter) on reports that the reliance on Adrian had decreased. Whether that was the case or not is something we might never find out.

#3 The lure of the final hurrah

If reports are to be believed, the lure of winning with Ferrari is just massive. You cannot ignore the forbidden fruit of going to the most iconic team in F1 and trying to win the title with them.

Adrian Newey's career has only seen success, it doesn't matter which team he became a part of. He's been in F1 since the 1990s and has achieved success with three very different teams. But he hasn't done that with Ferrari.

At 65 years of age, he won't get many opportunities to do that in the future, and this might be the perfect time. The team seems politically stable for the first time in a long time. Lewis Hamilton is joining the team next year. The stars are aligning in a manner that not many would have expected from a Newey to Ferrari move.

For Adrian, this will be his last hurrah, the last time he gives his all to something, and he's going after the big fish.