Adrian Newey ‘relatively oblivious’ to noise about F1 future with wife “keeping me informed”

Adrian Newey insists he is “relatively oblivious” to the noise surrounding his F1 future.

The legendary car designer’s next move remains the hot topic in the F1 paddock after it was confirmed in May that he will leave Red Bull in early 2025 after nearly two decades at Milton Keynes.

Newey’s impending availability has sparked a scramble to secure his services, with speculation ramping up over where the 65-year-old will go next.

Recent reports suggest that Aston Martin have emerged as the favourites to sign Newey, who has also been linked with Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Williams.

“That bit is very easy, because I don’t really read social media or I don’t particularly read magazines – that’s kind of something I stopped doing a long time ago,” Newey said on Red Bull’s in-house Talking Bull podcast.

“Back in my Leyton House days, the first car I did was in 1988 – showing my age, obviously! That was a good little car. Then in ’89 we completely messed it up, so I went from being this new hero in the F1 paddock on the engineering side to the idiot who was a one-hit wonder.

“I thought, well really, you can’t read the press when it’s good and then get upset about it when it’s poor, so at that point I sort of said, ‘Okay, just don’t read the press!’”

He added: “Mandy, my wife, she does follow social media. She keeps me roughly informed of what’s going on, but I’m relatively oblivious to it.

“I just try to lead my life and not be influenced by it.”

Newey has confirmed he will remain involved in the RB17 hypercar project beyond his Red Bull exit.

“It was a really difficult decision - a really difficult decision - but one I felt I needed to make for various reasons,” he explained.

“The positive of it, though, is first of all I felt I needed a bit of a break as well. That’s what we are doing. But also, it meant I could fully concentrate on RB17 from now until Q1 of next year.

“Indeed, after that point and after I’ve officially stopped with Red Bull, very much in agreement with Christian, with the shareholders and all the senior people at Red Bull, I will continue to be involved with the 17.

“On email, on phone calls, dyno testing, track testing when we start testing. I’ve put too much into this car now, as a passion project, much of it in the after hours of evenings or weekends to walk away from it at this point.”

When asked what moments had stood out during his time with Red Bull, Newey replied “When I started, really it was with the aspiration and hope that at some point we could win a race.

“We won the race with Sebastian in his Toro Rosso in Monza in 2008, but it felt a slightly funny victory because it was our car, but it wasn’t our team. That first [Red Bull] victory in China in 2009 was quite a landmark.

“Then going on to that last race in Abu Dhabi in 2010 and winning the championship against the odds with Sebastian’s drive that weekend, and Ferrari’s mistake on the strategy – that was something I’ll never forget.

“We had many close championships battles, 2012 went down to the last race as well, where Sebastian got spun around at the first corner and had a massive hole in the bodywork and stuff, but we managed to keep going and got that one.

“Then, of course, [Verstappen’s first title in] 2021, which I think will be talked about for many years. I think of all my years in motor racing, that was the most difficult year.”