[Team] Adrian Newey

[ChrisA]

According to a press release from the BBC, Adrian Newey is leaving Red Bull Racing. Not stated where he is going, but his contract has a "get out" clause at the end of 2024 season. Sorry, just seen this in another thread. Perhaps it can be combined.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

In case this isn't merged into the main red bull thread, here is the Link to the BBC story

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cmm3v9ny78eo

[PanozDP01]

If Newey does leave and go to Ferrari, it wont be about Lewis Hamilton for a couple of reasons:

1 - Even if he joins in 2026 after gardening leave, he'll be working on the 2027 car, and even then likely won't see the real effects until 2028.

2 - Leclerc is probably the fastest driver over one lap, and sure he makes mistakes but he can generally drive the car on a knife edge. Newey loves those sorts of drivers, so he'll push towards those limits. Hamilton says it's "experiments" but in 2022 and 2024 so far, he's not been great in a car not to his liking. Leclerc in a developed Newey car would very likely make a 40 year old Lewis Hamilton look like todays Sergio Perez over 1 lap.

3 - Time. Simply put, even if I'm wrong on point 2, unless Ferrari are already top of the field in 2026 it's going to take a while for Hamilton to get another title winning car even under a Newey led team. Nothing in F1 happens over night. Hamilton didn't want to race into his 40's and he left Mercedes after 3 years of it not happening, he left McLaren after 4 years of it not happening, does he drive at Ferrari for 3+ years if it's not happening?

I think Lewis' time at Ferrari will be akin to Schumacher's time at Mercedes.

[Skam85]

I'm no Hamilton fan but that is some incredible mental gymnastics right there

[GTRMagic]

Given the gardening leave thrust upon any ex-Red Bull employee.. would Mr Newley be allowed to start ASAP or would it take 3 years for him to pop up at the Scuderia?

[GTRMagic]

[GreenMachine]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Given the gardening leave thrust upon any ex-Red Bull employee.. would Mr Newley be allowed to start ASAP or would it take 3 years for him to pop up at the Scuderia?

Unlikely. That would be 'restraint of trade'. GL is an established and legitimate way of teams protecting their IP, and I believe the courts have ruled on this.

A year for a top designer would be the limit I suspect, and three years likely be held to be an excessive period to restrain someone from practicing their trade.

[GTRMagic]

If Red Bull continues to pay Mr Newey to stay at home and doodle at his current stipend during said gardening leave.. it would be difficult to argue restraint of trade..

I am sure the old drawing board can be put to good use regardless of using it to design the ‘25 car…

In terms of loss of skills recency.. it’s hard to compare Mr Newey’s record as having too many skills gaps even after changing teams a few times…

[E.B]

I believe there is a 6 month maximum cap now on gardening leave.

Having said that Newey is / was under contract (subject to exit clauses unknown) until end 2025.

[S griffin]

I always thought Newey would end his F1 career at RBR. However if this story is to believed, I can imagine him going to somewhere like Ferrari or Aston. But I can also seeing him just retiring

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Think that Joe has nailed it there - we may have to wait to hear from Mr Newey to have definite info.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Seems so. Half a rumour has turned into wildfire

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I always thought Newey would end his F1 career at RBR. However if this story is to believed, I can imagine him going to somewhere like Ferrari or Aston. But I can also seeing him just retiring

Unless he is off to Sauber.. or Andretti..

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Given the gardening leave thrust upon any ex-Red Bull employee.. would Mr Newley be allowed to start ASAP or would it take 3 years for him to pop up at the Scuderia?

Isn't Newey self-employed and provides his expertise through a service company? Wasn't that one of the problems that Red Bull Racing had when their accounts were audited for the first time under the budget cap?

If the above is still relevant, I doubt whether he would have accepted a contract to provide services to Red Bull that included any clauses that demanded gardening leave in the event that he wanted to pursue other opportunities.

[Greem]

Correct.

RACING SERVICES LIMITED, details available from Companies House.

[Sandgroper]

as Tom Cruise would say

" SHOW ME THE MONEY "

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Skam85

I'm no Hamilton fan but that is some incredible mental gymnastics right there

Absolutely agreed!

[Beau2]

Originally Posted by PanozDP01

If Newey does leave and go to Ferrari, it wont be about Lewis Hamilton for a couple of reasons:

1 - Even if he joins in 2026 after gardening leave, he'll be working on the 2027 car, and even then likely won't see the real effects until 2028.

2 - Leclerc is probably the fastest driver over one lap, and sure he makes mistakes but he can generally drive the car on a knife edge. Newey loves those sorts of drivers, so he'll push towards those limits. Hamilton says it's "experiments" but in 2022 and 2024 so far, he's not been great in a car not to his liking. Leclerc in a developed Newey car would very likely make a 40 year old Lewis Hamilton look like todays Sergio Perez over 1 lap.

3 - Time. Simply put, even if I'm wrong on point 2, unless Ferrari are already top of the field in 2026 it's going to take a while for Hamilton to get another title winning car even under a Newey led team. Nothing in F1 happens over night. Hamilton didn't want to race into his 40's and he left Mercedes after 3 years of it not happening, he left McLaren after 4 years of it not happening, does he drive at Ferrari for 3+ years if it's not happening?

I think Lewis' time at Ferrari will be akin to Schumacher's time at Mercedes.

Sprint race aside, Hamilton's 2024 has been akin to Schumacher at Mercedes. There are a lot of similarities to how Mercedes are performing now compared with 2010-2012.

[S griffin]

It seems he won't be able to join another team for a couple of years. So this may run and run for a bit.

[Plantagenet]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Isn't Newey self-employed and provides his expertise through a service company? Wasn't that one of the problems that Red Bull Racing had when their accounts were audited for the first time under the budget cap?

If the above is still relevant, I doubt whether he would have accepted a contract to provide services to Red Bull that included any clauses that demanded gardening leave in the event that he wanted to pursue other opportunities.

I agree Mike. He’s a contractor/consultant. I cannot believe that the contract he signed with RBR would be that restrictive in terms of both notice period and stipulations as to restrictive windows before working for a ‘competitor’. When he started contracting (late teens?) he would have been one of the most sought after designers in the business and he simply wouldn’t have needed to have accepted such a restrictive contract, especially given as a contractor he probably needs next to no notice from RBR to be terminated. All very different when you’re a contractor earlier in your career …..like me (!) where the employers have the stronger hand.
IF he does go (and again the reporting around RBR seems very fragmented), I can see him working for another team soon, and very lucratively too.
Just my 2 pence.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by S griffin

It seems he won't be able to join another team for a couple of years. So this may run and run for a bit.

This from unnamed and unverified sources, it is no better than all the other gossip that surrounds F1. Until either or both Newey and Red Bull make a statement, all the stuff that is going around the media is absolutely meaningless; all a bit like Chinese whispers (younger members may need to Google that).