Newey to Williams? This is the state of negotiations

F1 News

williams talks to red bull's newey
16 May at 20:30
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  • Ludo van Denderen

Ever since Adrian Newey announced he was closing the door at Red Bull Racing in mid-2025, there has been speculation about where the 65-year-old Briton will continue his career. Ferrari seems the most serious destination, Aston Martin have been mentioned (although the British team denies Newey is in the picture, ed), and Mercedes are also said to be an option for the successful designer. But admitting that Newey is on the radar, these teams do not. Williams did earlier; team boss James Vowles is keen to bring Red Bull's current CTO back to the old nest.

Newey has a past at Williams, with whom he captured nine world titles in the 1990s. Since then, Williams has languished on the F1 grid, but under Vowles' reign, the team wants to make a revival. Having a star designer like Newey within its ranks would be of great value in this regard.

In Miami, Vowles made it clear he had spoken to Newey about a tenure. Two weeks later, the logical question is where do these negotiations stand? "With Adrian, the main thing is I respect him enormously. He has history at Williams. And I first and foremost wanted to make sure I had a conversation with him to say this is the place to be. We paused any other further discussions until around about now, and I'll continue the conversations as well."

'Newey is taking his time with his decision'

In any case, Vowles has realised that he needs to be patient. "He [Newey] is not in a rush, particularly, which is a good thing. I think we have to be straightforward. I want to make sure we're talking to him, I want to make sure our name's in the hat. There are some big players out there doing a lot of big number movements, so we'll see where the sets are," Vowles said.