Red Bull team principal Christian Horner denied there is any connection between the tensions within the team arising from allegations made against him earlier this year and Adrian Newey’s decision to leave.
Horner claimed Newey’s departure had been expected for some time and insisted the team is “well set up” to continue their success after he leaves. Newey will depart next year, ending his longest spell at any team during his enormously successful career.
Horner said Newey had decided it was the “right time” for him to step down from the company. “Adrian has had such a wonderful career,” Horner told Sky. “He’s been hard at it the last 30 years. Obviously was seven years with Williams, he’s done seven years with McLaren and then he’s done the best part of 20 years with ourselves.
“I think, just speaking with him, he’s reached a point where the team’s in great, great shape – we’re performing at such a high level – he feels that now is the right time for him to step away, take a bit of time out. He’s still going to be working on his RB17, the track car that we’re designing, but he felt that now was the time to take a break.”
Despite their continued on-track success, Red Bull have been at the centre of speculation for much of the year due to allegations made by a staff member against Horner, which he denies. Asked if Newey’s departure was related to the turmoil, Horner insisted “no, absolutely not.”
“I think this has been coming for some time,” he continued. “There was discussion, pretty much 12 months ago, that it might have been the time for Adrian to look at stepping back.
“So I know it’s been on his mind for some time and it’s been something that we’ve been having to plan for. And what better time to go than with a run of form that we’ve had over the last couple of seasons with the way the team is performing.
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“He’s stepping aside, not leaving the company, but stepping aside from Formula 1, while we’re right at the top of our game. We’ll be very sad to see him go. He’s been an immense part of our team over the last, pretty much. Two decades. But it will be with sadness that we see him depart, but also the show goes on.”
Despite Red Bull having made significant leaps in performance after major technical regulation changes in 2009 and 2022, Horner does not believe his team will feel Newey’s loss for the next major regulations overhaul…
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