Adrian Newey expresses deep gratitude as he marks the end of his iconic journey with Red Bull’s RB17 project.
Several months ago, Red Bull announced that Adrian Newey would be leaving the team at the beginning of 2025, nearly two decades after his arrival in 2006.
At Goodwood this weekend, it was therefore suggested to him that the RB17 hypercar ultimately marked the end of his tenure at Milton Keynes and that it was time to think about the future.
“It turned out to be the case. I mean, it was never planned that way, of course. When we started the car at the very beginning of 2021, I never even contemplated that I would not be with the team in 2025, or in the second quarter of 2025, so in that sense, yes, it is.”
“However, that being said, I will continue to be involved in the development of the RB17 up to production and so on. I have really put a lot of time into it in the evenings and weekends, trying to integrate it into F1.”
“I definitely want to see it through. The shareholders of Red Bull, Christian Horner, everyone is very supportive of this, so I will still be involved on that side of things.”
As for the coming months, Newey specifies that even though his roles at Red Bull have changed, he is still working while the RB17 project comes to life—ensuring the car is completed as planned and that customers enjoy the ultimate experience.
“The positive aspect is that we are now in a very important stage of the RB17 in terms of releasing the detailed drawings. We still have aerodynamic work to do on parts that have not yet been finalized.”
“We have all the considerations about how we manage the maintenance plan, maintenance costs, how all that works, so there is a lot of work to finish in the next six months or so. So without F1 I can now focus on this.”
“At the same time, I can also take a bit of a vacation. I have been in the business almost continuously for a long time now, so having a little break is nice!”
Newey also revealed at Goodwood a shocking piece of information: coupled with its mere 900 kilos and its 1200 horsepower V10, the RB17 could have beaten the 2024 F1 cars on a single lap!
“The RB17 is a very aerodynamic car, of course, but we wanted something that would be accessible to people with a relatively low level of track experience. Ultimately, it is adaptable and can evolve so that the driver can evolve with the car and reach a point where, according to all our simulations with the driver in the simulator, it would definitely have been on pole at Silverstone last weekend, ahead of the F1s.”
And what about his journey at Red Bull?
“It was an incredible adventure, really. I was at McLaren before Red Bull, and we had a very good car in 2005, winning 10 races, but I just felt I needed a new challenge. Joining Red Bull was frankly a big risk for my career, I think a lot of people thought it was suicidal.”
“In fact, it was just the ambition to try to build the team, and with the hope that one day we could win a race. We could never have conceived or thought that the level of success we eventually had would be what has happened since.”
The whole world wonders if another F1 designed by Adrian Newey will be on the grid in the future.
When asked if he feels a certain pride in this regard, about the positive things people have said about him in recent weeks and months, the 65-year-old responds: “Yes, that’s true.”
“I must admit that I don’t read the press much, but of course, I hear things. Amanda, my wife, follows the press a bit and updates me, so yes, it’s very flattering, of course.”
“Ultimately, that’s not why I do this job. From the age of 10 or 11, I always wanted to be a race car designer, and I managed to achieve that, so everything else is really just a bonus.”
“My passion has always been to try to add performance to cars, to race cars, so the rest of it of course is part of it, but glory is not what wakes me up and motivates me.”
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Newey ‘Flattered’ by F1 Fanfare as RB17 Era Ends Newey ‘Flattered’ by F1 Fanfare as RB17 Era Ends
