Red Bull claims it has ‘something to prove’ after Adrian Newey’s shock exit

Adrian Newey has often been credited for Red Bull's success in the ground effect era.

Red Bull claims it has ‘something to prove’ after Adrian Newey’s shock exit

Pierre Wache and Adrian Newey (Via: Imago)

The breakup of Red Bull and Adrian Newey after a frenzy of speculations left the Austrian camp wounded. Speculations trundled the paddock about how the Austrian giant would cope with the design genius’s loss. In stark contrast, Red Bull’s technical director, Pierre Wache, has asserted that amid such rumors, the Austrian outfit has found the motivation to prove they could dominate F1 without the assistance of Newey.

Adrian Newey joined Red Bull in 2006 after a brief stint at McLaren. Then, the Brit had around a dozen championships amassed to his creations. However, this soon changed as he gained another dozen in his alliance with the Milton Keynes-based squad. But as the 2024 season began, so did the chaos that made the Brit pull the plug on his coalition with the team, and the latter was claimed to have been left at a disadvantage without the design genius.

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Such claims were not entertained by Pierre Wache, who admitted that Red Bull had to prove their worth to the grid.

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I would say yes, we are prepared to work as a team to deliver a car after if one person leave, it's a shame, but you know, and even more this type of person like Adrian, that is big important on it. But you know, we were prepared for that for sure. And I think it's something we have to prove around the year and next year.
Pierre Wache said in an interview with RacingNews365

The French engineer reckoned that it was shameful that Newey had to end his stint early with the Austrian marque. Though the 65-year-old laid the basis for Red Bull’s masterpieces, he asserted that the team was ready for his departure and made arrangements beforehand. Thus, now they have a target to prove themselves in the upcoming seasons that they could work without the Englishman being in the team’s arsenal.

Guenther Steiner deems Adrian Newey’s potential move to Williams as wishful thinking

After the announcement of his departure, speculations have been looming around the paddock about where the Brit would end up. One section of the paddock reckons that Newey would head to Maranello, whereas another section claims that the design legend could move to Williams.

Guenther Steiner
Guenther Steiner (Via: Imago)

Witnessing such rumors regarding the 65-year-old’s future, Guenther Steiner claimed them to be outrageous.

I would say it’s a little bit of wishful thinking... Does Adrian really want to go to Williams? I don’t know. Maybe he wants to, but Adrian has got a lot of opportunities out there. He can pick where he can go. It’s difficult to predict that one and if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t be putting my money on that.
Guenther Steiner said on the Red Flags podcast

The Italian-American lashed out at the rumors of Newey moving to Williams and deemed them to be wishful thinking at best. Furthermore, he downplayed this move by claiming that the English team had nothing to offer to Newey.

Despite the former Haas boss reckoning that a reunion of Williams and Newey might not be possible, the transfer market has been quite volatile in the past few weeks. A decision regarding Newey’s future could be anticipated in the upcoming rounds.

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