Red Bull confirm departure of design guru Adrian Newey

Red Bull Racing confirmed Wednesday that chief technical officer Adrian Newey is leaving the Formula One team in early 2025.

Including his work with three-time defending champion Max Verstappen, Newey has designed more championship-winning cars than anyone in F1 history.

Newey, 65, joined Red Bull in 2006 after stints on the design teams at McLaren (1997-2005), Williams (1991-96) and March Racing/Leyton House (1988-90).

His tenure with Red Bull has included seven F1 driver's championships, six constructors' championships, 118 victories and 101 poles.

"Ever since I was a young boy, I wanted to be a designer of fast cars," Newey said in a statement. "My dream was to be an engineer in Formula One, and I've been lucky enough to make that dream a reality.

"For almost two decades it has been my great honour to have played a key role in Red Bull Racing's progress from upstart newcomer to multiple title-winning team. However, I feel now is an opportune moment to hand that baton over to others and to seek new challenges for myself."

Red Bull said "the engineering supremo" will step back from his design duties to focus on the final development and delivery of the RB17, Red Bull's first hypercar.

"All of our greatest moments from the past 20 years have come with Adrian's hand on the technical tiller," team principal and CEO Christian Horner said in a news release.

"His exceptional ability to conceptualise beyond F1 and bring wider inspiration to bear on the design of grand prix cars, his remarkable talent for embracing change and finding the most rewarding areas of the rules to focus on, and his relentless will to win have helped Red Bull Racing to become a greater force than I think even the late Dietrich Mateschitz might have imagined."

Heading into Sunday's Miami Grand Prix, Verstappen leads the F1 driver standings and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez is second. Red Bull holds a comfortable lead over Ferrari in the constructors' standings.