Red Bull rivals ready to poach next senior figure after Adrian Newey exit – report

Champagne celebrations at Red Bull.

Red Bull will not miss Adrian Newey as long as the “others” stay, but already Jonathan Wheatley is being courted by a “team from Italy” and one that “just won” a Grand Prix.

Red Bull announced last week that they’d be saying farewell to design guru Newey in the first quarter of 2025 with the 65-year-old having already stepped back from the team’s Formula 1 project.

Adrian Newey will leave Red Bull in 2025 after 19 years with the team

Instead, the acclaimed designer will spend his last months at Red Bull focusing on the RB17 hypercar with Christian Horner confirming he no longer has access to Red Bull’s F1 data.

But while Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has called it a “huge loss”, Horner has stated more than once that Red Bull’s design department is more than just Adrian Newey.

“Our key pillars are in place for the future,” he said in Miami. “I think the structure that we have in place, that Adrian has helped contribute to morph and mould into the package that it now is.

“It’s well set to take up the baton and continue to produce fantastic cars like we have.”

Van der Grint agrees with the Briton that losing Newey is not a “big blow” for Red Bull, but that’s dependent on Red Bull holding onto the rest of the team.

“I have to support Horner a bit, because I don’t think it is a really big blow for the team,” the former Bridgestone engineer turned pundit told Viaplay’s In de Slipstream.

“Look, if only Newey leaves, they will deal with it. If more follow, that is a danger.

“But if they can keep the rest together and just have to move on without Newey, then it’s not as dramatic as people make out.”

“But,” he reiterated, “the others have to stay.”

However, his fellow pundit Allard Kalff reckons Red Bull will miss Newey come January when the teams are permitted to begin working on their 2026 cars which will be designed under new regulations.

“What you will miss with Newey is when new regulations are introduced is someone who sets a direction from above,” said Kalff.

“He seems to be great at coming into the design department and saying; ‘This and that is how you should design it’. They’re going to miss him there. For the rest, you can probably handle it very well.”

“But,” he warned, “if one sheep crosses the dam, more will follow.

“If your competition wants to destroy such a team, you have to buy away a lot of people. And that is now the great danger.”

More on Adrian Newey’s Red Bull exit

👉 Helmut Marko predicts Adrian Newey’s next F1 team… and it’s not who you think

👉 Adrian Newey’s gardening leave explained: How F1 legend will spend his final days at Red Bull

‘Team from Italy’ and one that ‘just won’ a GP courting Wheatley

Red Bull’s long-time sporting director Jonathan Wheatley could be the next of those sheep, that’s according to whispers in the Miami paddock.

PlanetF1.com though, understands the Briton is actually in the process of negotiating a renewal with Red Bull.

However, according to Kalff, even in the midst of that process Wheatley has been approached by “two teams” with offers to jump ship.

“They are now also in the process of extending Wheatley’s contract,” he said. “I know he has already received offers from two teams – a team from Italy and a team that has just won a Grand Prix.

“After all, he is the man who made the pit stops so good. And he built this team from the ground up.”

He believes the budget cap, which only exempts a team’s top-three earners, could help the team hold onto Wheatley.

“The big advantage of Red Bull is the budget cap,” he explained.

“Look, because you can hire someone like Newey and pay them a fortune. That falls outside the budget cap. But people like Wheatley and perhaps others do fall under it.

“Then you have to fire someone again, because you can’t spend too much money. In that respect, the budget cap is Red Bull’s friend.”