End of era: successful partnership for Newey and Red Bull will end

Adrian Newey's career in Formula 1 began in the 1980s. He quickly impressed as a designer of the March GTP car and later the March 86C at the Indy 500. Switching to Formula 1 with the March team in 1988, Newey distinguished himself with the fast March 881. His path led him to Williams, where, despite initial technical problems, he won a string of world titles.

The tragedy of Ayrton Senna's death in 1994 and the loss of the title in 1995 marked a difficult period for Newey at Williams. In his book How to Build a Car, Newey reflects on the fateful accident as "a bad piece of design that should never have been on the car", referring to the modified steering column that probably caused Senna's death. He moved to McLaren, where he was responsible for the design of the McLaren MP4/13 in 1998 and the MP4/14 in 1999. This was good for two drivers' titles for Mika Hakkinen and the constructors' title in 1998. Despite the success, Newey felt a change was coming and he eventually left McLaren in 2005.

Adrian Newey to Red Bull

Christian Horner and David Coulthard, who had worked with Newey for many years at McLaren, initiated his move to Red Bull Racing in 2006. This led to a meeting with Helmut Marko, ushering in a new era. At Red Bull, a team that values both performance and fun, Newey played a crucial role in shaping the team and its successes in the following years.

At Red Bull Racing, Adrian Newey initially struggled with unreliable cars, but in 2009 the RB5 brought the team success and a second-place finish in the championship. From 2010 to 2013, the team dominated with Sebastian Vettel winning four consecutive titles. Despite a disappointing 2014 season due to new engines and a disappointing 2015, the team found their way up in 2016. After this, they moved closer and closer to the top, helped by the switch from Renault to Honda engines and the arrival of Max Verstappen.

Verstappen starts winning World Championships

In 2021, the moment had finally arrived for Red Bull: the RB16B could actually take on Mercedes. Towards the end of the season, the German racing team got the upper hand, but that proved too late to win the world drivers' title. However, Red Bull did have to miss out on the constructors' title, so the goal for 2022 was immediately clear: winning both world titles.

The team succeeded very convincingly, despite the relatively short time they had to develop the car for 2022. Newey's RB18 turned out to be a gem, although the car appeared at the start of the F1 season with its fair share of problems. Each update introduced by the Austrian racing team proved to be a step in the right direction and by the summer break it became clear that the team was unbeatable. Both world titles were secured early on.

Many consider Adrian Newey the best technician Formula 1 has ever known. He did show with his latest flagship car, the RB19. Combined with Max Verstappen behind the wheel, the car was absolutely merciless and simply impossible to keep up with on the straights.

RB20 is also strong

What the competition already feared before the start of the season became the painful reality during the first five Grands Prix of this season. With the RB20, an evolution of the 2023 car, Red Bull is once again unapproachable and is well on its way to capturing the world championship in both drivers and constructors. By supremacy.

So Newey will be leaving Red Bull, but given the few regulatory changes, the Austrian formation seems to have the best chances to win the two titles in 2024 and 2025. From 2026, however, everything will be different with a bunch of new rules as well as new engine regulations. And where will Newey be working then? We will undoubtedly hear more about that later.