Newey reveals reason behind his departure from Red Bull

After 19 years of loyal service, Adrian Newey will say goodbye to Red Bull Racing after this Formula 1 season. His departure was rumoured to have everything to do with the controversy surrounding team principal Christian Horner, but is that actually why Newey has made this choice?

Looking back on his time at Red Bull, where he joined in late 2005, Newey calls it a "great experience" to have built a new F1 team together with Horner as team principal. "Honestly, when I joined, I had no idea where we're going to end up. It's quite a big career risk for me and it's just been an amazing ride since then. You know, it's been a tremendous honour working with all the amazing guys and girls at the factory, at the race team, just been fabulous," he told Sky Sports.

Newey reveals reason behind departure from Red Bull

Asked why he has tied the knot just at now, the 65-year-old Briton replied: "Well, Formula 1 is all consuming. I've been at it for a long time now. 2021 was a really busy year because of all the tight battle of Mercedes through the championship, and at the same time putting all the research and development into the 18, which is the father of this generation of cars. And then, I don't know, there comes a point, I think, where I just felt, as Forrest Gump said, I'm feeling a little bit tired."

For how long did Newey have the idea of leaving? "A little while now, if I'm honest, kind of, I guess over the winter a little bit," says Newey, who seems to hint at the turmoil that has been going on within Red Bull since then. "Then, as events have unfolded this year, I thought, I'm in the very lucky position where I don't need to work to live, I work because I enjoy it. And as I say, I just felt that now is a good time to step back and take a bit of a break and take stop of life and go travelling a bit.," he concluded.