I felt I wouldn’t be true to myself if I stayed at Red Bull

Aston Martin’s incoming managing technical partner Adrian Newey has delved into the reasons why he left Red Bull and took up a new challenge in Formula 1.

After an 18-year stint in Milton Keynes, which yielded eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ crowns, Newey decided last April to call time on his successful partnership with the team, just one year on from signing a new contract.

The Briton was known to be uncomfortable with the power struggles at play in the higher spheres of the Red Bull outfit.

He was also unhappy with team principal Christian Horner telling Autosport in late 2023: “The technical team beneath [Newey] led by Pierre Wache, they’re doing a wonderful job and so that they’re not reliant on Adrian.” 

In an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Newey revealed he had done some soul-searching as he pondered a decision that would lead him to join Aston Martin a few months later.

“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’,” Newey commented. “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 acknowledged that he didn’t need to earn any more money and he could “simply retire and sit on the beach”. It was therefore a matter of what would provide his life with the most enjoyment.

“Ultimately, the reality is, I’ve aspired to be a designer in motor racing from the age of 10 or so, and I’ve been lucky enough to achieve that. And of course, there’s been the odd day where that I haven’t enjoyed, but by and large I’ve enjoyed pretty much every day of my working life. And so I feel incredibly lucky to have had that position.

“I really came to conclusion that I actually did want to carry on working, that I’d get bored doing nothing. And so if I was going to work, then why not continue doing what I’ve always wanted to do and have enjoyed doing.”

Newey’s departure from Red Bull, which was made official on 1 May, coincided with a sharp decline in performance for the team. Sergio Perez took his last top-five finish of the year at the following race in Miami, while Max Verstappen won just five of the next 19 grands prix on his way to a fourth consecutive world title.

At the end of last season Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache revealed to Autosport the main issue the squad had faced. The CFD and simulator data did not match what was happening on the track; as a consequence, car upgrades were not as effective as hoped, notably inducing some balance problems which were exacerbated.

“Already through the very last stages of ’23, the car was starting to become more difficult to drive,” Newey explained. “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.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, leads Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“So we also started through ’23 to see more of a difference in performance between team-mates Max and Checo. That carried into the first part of ’24, but the car was still quick enough to be able to cope with it.

“It’s something I was starting to become concerned about, but not many other people in the organisation seemed to be very concerned about it. 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. And the problem became more and more acute, to the point that even Max found it difficult to drive.”

Newey’s analysis that Red Bull “kept going in that same direction” is corroborated by Wache, who admitted: “I think we spotted it, but after that the car was quick and we didn’t want to modify it massively.

“When we came back to Europe and were challenged more by McLaren, then it started to become more and more evident that it was one of the biggest issues for us to go quicker.”

Newey will now join Aston Martin on 1 March when his lengthy gardening leave ends, and he sees some parallels between this new project and the youthful Red Bull outfit he joined in 2006 – in stark contrast with Williams and McLaren, two F1 powerhouses Newey also had much success with previously.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, and Adrian Newey

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

“Red Bull was very different in as much as that was ashes of Jaguar, a team that had never really achieved very much,” the Englishman pointed out. “And so it wasn’t just the design side, it was also developing the infrastructure, the communications, the methodology, the team spirit.

“Aston, of course, I don’t know yet, because I haven’t started, but I suspect it may be a little bit more on the Red Bull side of things.”