Design legend Adrian Newey has dropped a hint that he is considering continuing in Formula 1 with another team once his extensive spell with Red Bull ends in 2025.
Red Bull announced earlier this month that Newey will vacate his role with the team next term to bring the curtain down on an illustrious almost two-decade affiliation.
The Briton, 65, has provided the blueprint behind the cars that have seen Red Bull take seven Drivers’ and six Constructors’ titles, including six championship doubles.
But Newey had communicated his intention to depart as part of his desire to pursue “new challenges” elsewhere and amid growing tension within the Austrian squad.
Newey has agreed on an exit package that will enable him to begin work elsewhere from March 2025, ensuring he can participate in the development of the 2026 cars.
With Ferrari reported to have revived its long-standing interest in his coveted services, Newey has suggested that he plans to extend his F1 involvement past Red Bull.
Speaking to Eddie Jordan at last week’s Monaco Historic Grand Prix, Newey said: “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 or five years, I’d have said you’re absolutely mad.”
However, Newey’s outlook has since changed when he took into consideration how he remembers his father “lost his mojo a bit” when retiring at the exact same age.
That evolving stance concerning his future prospects continued through conversations with two stalwarts in ex-F1 supremo and veteran IndyCar owner Roger Penske.
“I asked them both: ‘What’s your secret?’ Because they’ve kept going and going, and for their age they’re phenomenally mentally agile and physically agile,” Newey said.
“They both said that old thing that the brain is like a muscle, it needs exercise and so you need to keep doing that.
“Also, I’ve wanted to work in motor racing as a designer since I was the age of eight or 10. I’ve been lucky enough to fulfil that ambition, to have got that first job and been in motor racing ever since. So every day has just been a bonus, really. I just love what I do.
“I guess I’ll have a bit of a holiday. I feel a little bit tired at the moment. But at some point, I’ll probably go again.”
The ex-McLaren designer also admitted that he regrets the news dropped on the 30th anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s fatal crash at Imola in the Williams car he designed.
“It was a very difficult and unfortunate day for that press release to come out,” he conceded.
“The Miami Grand Prix itself was strange because I was there 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
“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.”
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