Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc admitted that despite the Maranello squad’s progress in recent times, adding Formula 1 design supremo Adrian Newey to the Scuderia’s ranks would be “amazing.”
Red Bull announced on Wednesday that Newey will be leaving the team at the end of the first quarter of the 2025 season after a nearly two-decade association, paving the way for him to join a rival outfit.
Ferrari is best placed to poach the storied engineer, with Italian media reporting he’s close to agreeing to a “super consultant” role at the Scuderia.
After making steady improvement over the winter, the Italian team is Red Bull’s closest challenger, which Leclerc acknowledges amid crediting the potential impact hiring Newey would have on Ferrari.
“I would obviously be very happy,” said Leclerc if Ferrari was to land its targeted acquisition.
“I think Adrian [Newey] is one of those guys in the paddock that you hope to be working with one day in your career, we have an incredible team in Ferrari at the moment and in the last seven to eight months, we are the team that have progressed the most, however adding Adrian to a team like this would be amazing.
Leclerc admitted he “was surprised” when the news came that Newey and Red Bull would part ways and pondered whether the Brit’s departure would effect the runaway pacesetters in F1.
“It was interesting news and one of those [stories] that makes a lot of noise once it’s out as I had it everywhere on my social media,” Leclerc said.
“But yeah, will it weaken Red Bull? I mean obviously every team, there are lots of people involved but some figures of a team make more difference than others and I think Adrian is definitely one of them as he has shown it with his path that every time, he’s been in a team they’ve been very successful.
“So yeah, it’s difficult for me to comment because I don’t know how exactly it works within the team but obviously Adrian being on the market of the engineers is definitely someone to watch and someone that everybody in the paddock will want in their team.”
Under the stewardship of Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur, Ferrari has locked Leclerc into a multi-year contract extension and signed Lewis Hamilton to be his team-mate for 2025 and beyond.
Furthermore, Vasseur reportedly met with Newey in London earlier this week as the Italian giants look to impress themselves upon the most sought-after engineer in the F1 paddock.
Leclerc believes that Vasseur’s impact at Ferrari puts the team in a good position to attract top talent.
“I think we’re in a very good moment for the team and we are in a good spiral, Fred [Vasseur] has always shared with me what his medium to the long-term vision of the team,” Leclerc said.
“I have shared with him what I thought also was the right thing and it’s going really well, I’m really happy with how it goes and I think we are in a good place to attract the best people in the world.
“However I have said it already but we are a really good team already and in the last seven to eight months we’ve done incredible progress, but whatever and whoever can come to make it even stronger is super important and Adrian is one of those guys that can make a difference.”
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