Is Hill seeing ghosts? 'Newey could go to Mercedes after end of contract'

The collaboration contract between top designer Adrian Newey and Red Bull Racing reportedly expires this year. And former F1 champion Damon Hill cannot shake the idea that Newey and Mercedes could well join forces.

It is a very far-fetched scenario from the former driver. Newey is inseparable from Red Bull, having helped build all 11 of the team's championship cars. That "inseparability" is possibly to end after this year with the expiry of the contract. And where in previous years the partnership has been renewed again, Hill thinks Newey may choose a different path after this year.

In the F1 Nation Podcast Tom Clarkson throws up the ball of Newey's expiring contract, to which Hill responds. The Brit saw Newey do something recently that has stuck with him. Hill: ""I can’t help ignoring this thing he did in Bahrain, where he stood in front of the Mercedes on the grid, with his clipboard, and stood there for a long time looking at their front wings."

For Hill, this was apparently enough of a clue to an possibly upcoming deal between Newey and Mercedes: "Anybody who knows Adrian will go: ‘Wait a minute, he’s already got the most dominant car in F1, why’s he looking at the Mercedes front wings?’ Was he really looking at the front wings? Or was he just standing in front of a Mercedes saying: ‘I’m interested’. Is that what he was really saying?”