F1 | Newey: “I have no plans, it’s time to take a break”

Earlier this week, Red Bull announced that Adrian Newey will leave the Milton Keynes team after almost two decades in the business, playing an important role in designing the cars that led Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen to win multiple world championships.

With the internal rift created earlier in the year at Red Bull with the Horner case, Newey felt it was the right time to leave the team. While he will continue to work on the RB17 hypercar, he will step away from involvement in F1 and will be free to join other teams from March 2025.

This would give Newey some more time to make a difference ahead of the 2026 regulation change, but despite strong interest from Ferrari, the 65-year-old said he currently has “no plan” to join a rival team , because he needs some time away from Formula 1.

“Formula 1 is an all-encompassing business and I’ve been at it for a long time,” Newey told Sky Sports F1. “2021 was a really challenging year for the close fight with Mercedes in the championship, and at the same time for the research and development of the RB18, which is the mother of this generation of cars.”

“I don’t know, there came a moment when I felt, as Forrest Gump said, ‘I’m feeling a little tired’.” When asked how long he had been thinking about his decision, he replied: “For quite some time, if I’m honest.”

“I think over the winter, and then as events unfolded this year, I thought… I’m lucky that I don’t need to work for a living. I work because I like it and I thought it was the right time to take a step back, take a little break and take stock of my life.”

“Mandy, my wife and the dogs, we’ll probably travel. We’ll get a camper or something and go to France and enjoy life. Then maybe at some point, I don’t know when, I’ll stand in the shower and say this is next adventure. There is no plan at the moment.”

Lewis Hamilton, who will move from Mercedes to Ferrari in 2025, said Newey would be high on his list of people he would like to work with in F1.

“Honestly, it’s very nice of Lewis to say that and I’m very flattered,” Newey responded when presented with Hamilton’s comments. “But it’s time to take a little break and see what happens.”