09/06/2025 09:15
Adrian Newey has revealed how he came to his decision to remain in F1 after opting to leave Red Bull after almost two decades last year. The Briton ultimately joined Aston Martin, where he has been working on the Silverstone squad's 2026 car, for the dawn of a new regulatory era in F1. Having recently attended the Monaco Grand Prix, his first race trackside with the team, Newey explained the different options available to him last summer. The 66-year-old pointed out there was a myriad of factors in his choice to walk away from the Milton Keynes outfit, where he had helped win a combined 13 drivers' and constructors' championships prior to Max Verstappen's fourth F1 title at the end of the campaign. "I resigned from Red Bull for a whole host of reasons, and genuinely at that point had no idea what I was going to do next," he told Sky Sports F1 . "So then it was kind of sitting back, thinking about it, chatting to Mandy, my wife, about what we should do. That ranged from kind of relax and go on sun holidays, drink lots of margaritas or something to going again to work. "And then, if it's going to be work, what would that be?" Diverse list With Red Bull Technologies' involvement in America's Cup sailing, Newey considered a move in that direction. However, he did not like the periodic rate of competition, instead preferring a more consistent test - and one that you can immediately start recovering from when found to be on the wrong path. "America's Cup is very interesting, very much a parallel universe," he said. "Technologies are all very similar. The only thing I don't like about America's Cup is there's no right of reply. You've got a competition once every four years. "And from when the boat goes in the water to when you're competing is two months at most. So if you haven't got the design quite right to start with, you really haven't got time to sort it out. "Whereas in Formula 1, even if you don't start the season well, if you've got the fundamental architecture of the car right, you've got the right power unit, great drivers, then you can turn it around. And McLaren's a very good current example of that." Having worked with Aston Martin previously on its Valkyrie, as well as the RB17 project, a move towards road cars was a viable avenue for Newey to pursue. However, the acclaimed aerodynamicist and designer did not like the slow rate of change. "Road cars have always been an interest," he explained. "I enjoyed the Valkyrie project, I am enjoying the RB17 project because I'm still involved in that." "But I think what I've loved about my career is that combination of man and machine, sporting endeavour - the fact that every week, or very often now every week, you're out on show." It was a similar story with complementary and competing fields, such as aeronautics, which Newey felt did not offer him the instant feedback he desired. "If I compare that [F1] to my friends from university who went into aeronautics, working on aircraft for companies like British Aerospace or Rolls [Royce], they're working on projects where you don't see whatever you're working on fly for 10 or 15 years," he said. "There's not a lot of feedback. So I kind of felt it needed to be man and machine, competition again."
