Adrian Newey has built himself one of the most impressive careers in Formula 1 possible as a technical director and designer, having now designed 11 constructors’ championship-winning cars.
The 64-year-old enjoyed a phenomenally successful stint working for Williams in the 90’s, before moving on to McLaren and then Red Bull in 2006.
The Brit has played a huge part in the dominance of both Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen during his time with the energy drink giants but is now taking a step away from Red Bull.
Having been involved in Formula 1 for so many years, Newey is looking to pursue some of his other interests in life, such as the Sailing’s Americas Cup, which he is currently involved with alongside four-time Olympic gold medalist Sir Ben Ainslie.
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While many have suggested that Red Bull will be significantly weakened with Newey involved less with the team, team principal Christian Horner has claimed that his team are stronger than ever behind the scenes.
“Over the last few years, Adrian has stepped back from day-to-day responsibility in Formula 1 and he splits his time between [Red Bull] Advanced Technology and Formula 1,” Horner told Auto Motor und Sport.
“He has an encyclopaedic knowledge and what we’ve seen during the last couple of years, which has been fantastic, is the technical team has really stepped up under Pierre [Wache’s] leadership with Enrico Balbo, Ben Waterhouse and Craig Skinner.
“I do believe it’s the strongest technical team we’ve had and that’s enabled Adrian to go off and do the Valkyrie project and now the RB17.
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“Of course Adrian is still there to be drawn on, but not on a day-to-day basis. Maybe 50 percent of his time is focused on Formula 1.
“He’s in the office probably a couple of days a week on average. When his attention is needed, he’s there to be drawn on by the technical group.”
Red Bull will hope that Newey’s latest creation, the RB19, will be as impressive as the rest of his recent creations, as the team look to fend off Mercedes and Ferrari to retain both of their championships this season.