Adrian Newey, Formula One’s most sought-after designer, is leaving the Red Bull champion, media reports said on Thursday.
A Red Bull spokesperson said Newey has a contract until at least the end of 2025 “and we don’t know if he has joined any other team. “
The BBC, however, reported that the 65-year-old believes he can negotiate a change to the team’s paint from next season.
Newey, whose cars have won 25 drivers’ and constructors’ championships for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, may not be reached for comment.
The BBC and German company Auto Motor und Sport reported that the Briton had told Red Bull he wanted to move on after allegations about team principal Christian Horner.
Horner was acquitted in February for alleged misconduct towards an employee, who appealed the outcome.
Lately Red Bull dominates with three-time world champion Max Verstappen, but Newey is a normal target for more sensible teams.
He is reluctant to leave England, where most of them reside.
Ferrari, which will welcome seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton next season from Mercedes, and Britain’s Aston Martin have been named as conceivable long-term employers and made proposals.
Hamilton joined McLaren in 2007, two years after Newey joined Red Bull. The designer’s 2023 car is the most dominant in the history of the sport with 21 wins in 22 races.
Mercedes, now suffering after an era of dominance, has brazenly courted Verstappen as a conceivable replacement for Hamilton in 2025.
Red Bull ends its partnership with Honda at the end of next season and will build its own engine with Ford backing as the sport enters a new era of powertrains in 2026.
High-level technical painters like Newey are often limited to a period of leave (agreeing not to work for a competitor for a set period of time) when they leave a team, which means Newey’s availability may not be immediate, although it is. possibly also to resign.
Red Bull has been through a rocky era since before the start of the season, with Horner at the top of his game and having issues with Verstappen’s father Jos and Red Bull Motorsport representative Helmut Marko.
Formula 1 veteran Marko and the Verstappens are close, with Max linking his long career with the team to the rest of the Austrians.
Newey is considered key to Red Bull’s good fortune as much as Verstappen, even though the Briton is not a one-man orchestra and has a team of highly skilled designers and aerodynamicists by his side.
Technical director Pierre Wache, in particular, has taken on a bigger role and enjoys great prestige, and Ferrari is keen to hire him.