‘Contractual clauses’ could block Adrian Newey move to Red Bull’s F1 rivals until 2027

Contractual non-complete clauses could see Adrian Newey blocked from joining any of Red Bull’s F1 rivals until 2027 at the earliest.

That is according to Autosport, who report Newey could be unavailable for an additional 12 months following the end of his contract, which is due to expire at the end of 2025.

It was widely reported on Thursday that the legendary F1 car designer has decided he wants to leave Red Bull in the wake of the controversy surrounding team principal Christian Horner.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, who first reported the news, claim Newey is most likely to join Ferrari and could make the move to Maranello as soon as 2025.

However, Autosport reports the situation surrounding Newey is “incredibly complex”.

Contractual non-complete clauses are often inserted into the contracts of senior F1 figures to prevent rivals poaching them easily.

This often leads to spells outside of the paddock - commonly known as gardening leave - which are observed before personnel can start work at their new teams.

Similar clauses are set to prevent Lewis Hamilton taking engineers with him when he makes the switch from Mercedes to Ferrari at the end of the year.

However, this does not necessarily prevent the possibility of Newey being fast-tracked to another team.

Indeed, if all parties involved were to reach an agreement, he could be bought out of his current contract.

Given Red Bull would not want to hand a potential early advantage to a rival outfit, such a deal would likely come at a lofty cost.

A sabbatical, or even a full-time step away from F1, have been mooted as other possibilities for the 65-year-old.

It is understood that Red Bull have not received a formal resignation from Newey.

In a statement issued to Crash.net, Red Bull insisted: "Adrian is contracted until at least the end of 2025 and we are unaware of him joining any other team.”

Sky Sports News’ Craig Slater reported: "As I understand it, he would have to serve another year of gardening leave were Red Bull to hold him to the full extent of his contract - which would mean he would not be able to work for another Formula 1 team until 2027.

"Red Bull, as I understand it, are also unaware of any formal approach from another Formula 1 team to Newey. The one or two individuals I have spoken to who are close to Newey have said that if he is seriously considering leaving, he has not made up his mind about what direction his future career should take."