Adrian Newey reveals he’s ‘seriously considering changing teams’ as he opens up on future F1 plans

Adrian Newey has opened up on his future plans following confirmation of his impending Red Bull exit, admitting he is contemplating a move to another F1 team and that after some rest he will “probably go again”.

Newey made headlines in the build-up to the Miami Grand Prix when it was announced that he is to leave Red Bull in early 2025, having spent almost two decades at the team and contributed heavily to 13 world titles.

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While retirement is an option for the 65-year-old, Newey was immediately linked to a host of rival teams given his immense track record in the sport – which also includes championships with Williams and McLaren.

Asked in an interview hosted by friend and manager Eddie Jordan for Oyster Yachts – who are building the legendary designer a new boat – about what he will do next, Newey began with a smile: “It’s a popular question at the moment.

“I think the easiest way to answer that is if you’d asked me 15 years ago, at the age of 65, would I seriously be considering changing teams, going somewhere else, and doing another four, five years or whatever, I’d have said, ‘You’re absolutely mad’.

“I think a few things happened at once. My dad, who was a vet, he was a huge car enthusiast, he had a little workshop with a lathe, a milling machine and stuff. He used to tinker around and always modify his cars and play with them. I guess that’s obviously where things rubbed off on me.

“Anyway, he wanted to retire when he was 60. He kind of semi-retired at 62, moved up with my mum to Yorkshire, then did locums until he was 65, then he was fully retired. He kind of… if I’m honest, it’s slightly emotional to say it, but he kind of lost his way a bit in his retirement.”

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He continued: “It was kind of a combination of that, and then two of the people I respect the most, Bernie [Ecclestone] and Roger Penske, I asked them both, ‘What’s your secret?’.

“They’ve kept going and going, and for their age they’re phenomenally agile, mentally agile and physically agile. They both said that old thing that the brain is like a muscle, it needs exercise, so you need to keep doing that.

“Also, honestly, I’ve wanted to work in motor racing, as a designer, since I was the age of eight or 10, and I’ve been lucky enough to fulfil that ambition, to have got that first job, and been in motor racing ever since.

“Every day has just been a bonus really, I love what I do, so at some point I guess I’ll have a bit of a holiday and as Forrest Gump said at the end of his long run, ‘I feel a little bit tired at the moment’, but at some point I’ll probably go again.”

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Having previously admitted to some “emotional” regret at never working for Ferrari, and never working alongside Lewis Hamilton, Newey was then asked about the seven-time world champion’s recent comments.

With Hamilton saying it would be a “privilege” to work with someone who is “absolutely at the top of” his wish list, and put to him that it must feel good to receive such praise and admiration, Newey responded: “It does, I have to admit.

“The Miami Grand Prix was strange because I was there, I was there [with Red Bull] in a strategy function, hence being on the pit wall, but I wasn’t involved in any of the engineering decisions, or in any of the engineering meetings, I was just being wheeled around for press basically.

“It’s not what gets me up [in the morning]. I never really think about it… I never thought it would be big news, to be perfectly honest, I never really thought about it. For it to be in all the flipping papers and on the telly and stuff was almost a bit of a shock.”

It remains to be seen where Newey will go next as the F1 paddock rolls on to Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend.