Anonymous team boss: 'Disaster for Red Bull if Newey signs elsewhere'

What will Adrian Newey do? Will he call it quits in Formula 1 or leave for a rival team? If so, the Austrian racing team have dug their own grave, according to an F1 team boss- who does not want to be named to be named - in a conversation with Motorsport.com.

Newey is still working on the RB17, and this counts as a so-called gardening leave. After the first quarter of 2025, Newey will be finished at Red Bull Racing and immediately be free to go wherever he wants. That would mean he could then immediately start developing the 2026 car for a team like Ferrari or Aston Martin.

Whether Newey actually wants to work for another team is unclear at the moment. Newey did leave the door open in the press release itself, saying he was ready for a new challenge. At Red Bull Racing, they state that Newey is not yet in talks with other teams or has the intention to sign elsewhere.

Comparison with Brawn GP

But what if Newey does start at another team in the premier class of motorsport in early 2025? "It would be an unmitigated disaster for Red Bull if Adrian was let go early to join a competitor," said the anonymous team boss. "Christian would look like a complete fool. Just as Whitmarsh did at McLaren when he handed Brawn the keys to Mercedes, which kickstarted their years of dominance in F1."

When Honda quit Formula 1 at the end of 2008, Brawn bought the F1 team. The racing team was renamed Brawn GP and Whitmarsh, McLaren's team boss at the time, agreed to give Brawn's team customer engines from Mercedes. In 2009, Brawn GP immediately won the world title with Jenson Button, and Mercedes then bought into the team. The exclusivity contract between McLaren and Mercedes expired.