Adrian Newey recalls ‘suicidal’ 2005 Red Bull move after making ‘very hard’ decision to leave Milton Keynes

Adrian Newey is undoubtedly one of the greatest designers in the history of motorsport. The 65-year-old has achieved incredible success with Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull. As the Briton finally moves on from Milton Keynes after almost two decades of service, he recalls the time when many believed joining Red Bull would ruin his career.

In 2005, Newey was at McLaren, albeit tensions had surfaced between the aero genius and then-McLaren Supremo Ron Dennis. A young Christian Horner managed to convince Adrian Newey to join the newly-formed Red Bull after the energy drinks giant took over the Jaguar F1 team. The 65-year-old mentioned that many considered this switch to be suicidal back then. As the Englishman moved from the iconic British team to the ‘party’ team at Milton Keynes.

Many people thought it was pretty suicidal at the time, at the end of 2005 going from McLaren where we'd won 10 races to this start-up team that in truth, kind of had this reputation of being the party team.

Adrian Newey told Eddie Jordan for Oyster Yachts

Newey and Red Bull proved the critics wrong with Sebastian Vettel winning four consecutive titles between 2010 and 2013. Moreover, Milton Keynes has established itself as a top team on the grid with Max Verstappen dominating the sport in recent years. As such, the aero genius admitted that it was an extremely tough call to walk away from the Austrian team.

Knowing where we would get to, to win the first race and get a one-two with Sebastian [Vettel] and Mark [Webber] and then to go and win the championship in 2010 and everything that has happened since, to walk away from that was a very hard decision. 

Adrian Newey explained

Adrian Newey claims Red Bull can ‘still fly’ after his departure

Newey’s contributions to Red Bull have been invaluable as the Austrian team became a front runner in the pinnacle of motorsport. Some believe that Milton Keynes might struggle without the aero genius. Although, Sergio Perez has stated that Red Bull’s success was not down solely to the 65-year-old. as the design wizard had shifted to a less of day-to-day role over the years.

Adrian Newey claimed that Red Bull Racing had matured in the past two decades. This allowed Newey to look for other opportunities. However, the 65-year-old affirmed that Milton Keynes could still certainly continue to succeed in Formula 1 even without his services.

The team is now very mature. It is well-organized so that in itself gives me an opportunity to be able to kind of walk away and look at new challenges, new things and let the team fly, which I am sure it still can.

Adrian Newey noted

Certainly, Adrian Newey’s absence would be felt at Milton Keynes. The 65-year-old spearheaded car development for any technical change, something which Horner reckoned Newey hated. Although, the aero genius denied this claim. Nevertheless, Red Bull will be entering a new era without its Chief Technical Officer while Adrian Newey could likely take some time off before potentially joining a rival team.

In case you missed it:

• Adrian Newey’s shock alternative to Ferrari for 2025
• Adrian Newey claims Red Bull ‘wheeled him around for press’ after exit announcement at Miami GP

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