Red Bull being “very careful” as Adrian Newey phased out ahead of possible Ferrari move

With Adrian Newey open to joining another F1 team in 2025, Red Bull have revealed that they are phasing him out from important technical meetings.

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that Newey would leave the organisation in the first quarter of 2025.

Newey has been integral to Red Bull’s success over the years, particularly recently as F1 returned to the ‘ground effect’ era.

The 65-year-old’s role will now be centred around the RB17 hypercar before leaving next year.

Newey’s next move is still unclear but reports have strongly linked him with a switch to Ferrari.

Unsurprisingly, Newey is slowly being phased out of attending technical meetings and conversations about next year’s car.

Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache addressed this fact on Friday at Imola.

Wache told Sky Sports: “At the moment, currently as going with the potential of joining a competitor, it doesn't matter about your name.

“The risk of picking up some current IP on the car and the future car even more. We’re being very careful.”

The impact of Newey’s departure will have on Red Bull won’t be clear until 2026 given the rules for next year will stay similar.

Wache remains confident that Red Bull are “prepared” for his exit.

“I think with knowing Adrian… I think everybody knows in this business, Adrian is a big man in this business and maybe the most successful engineer in F1,” he added. “I think it's a big effect for us, but the team was prepared. It's not like we expect him for 20 years more.

“We have to build the team around and make sure that we are prepared for this eventuality.”

Even though Red Bull have prepared for Newey’s departure, Wache conceded that the team will need to “prove” it over the next few years.

“It's difficult to answer that for sure. It's what we are planning for,” he explained. “It's what we are working for. But the future will tell us after all we are in the competitive environment. As the people say, they are working hard to catch us. We are working hard to stay ahead.

“Now the team has to, and any way before it was a team effort to deliver this car. It's not one person that delivers this car. I would say yes, we are prepared to work as a team to deliver a car after if one person leave, it's a shame, but you know, and even more this type of person like Adrian, that is big important on it. But you know, we were prepared for that for sure. And I think it's something we have to prove around the year and next year.”