EXCLUSIVE: Former team-mate claims Newey turned down offers from rival F1 team

Adrian Newey is believed to have turned down multiple contract offers from a rival Formula 1 team ahead of leaving Red Bull next year, according to one of his former colleagues.

Newey is set to depart Red Bull after 19 years once he officially leaves at the start of 2025, but he is expected to stay involved in F1 even if he does take a break from the sport first, which the design guru has been leaning towards.

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Many expect Newey to eventually end up at Ferrari to complete a sensational link up with Lewis Hamilton and form a dream team that could prove to be a devastating combination especially ahead of F1's rules and regulations reset coming in for the 2026 campaign.

Which team will Adrian Newey join?

However, speaking to GPFans, former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley, who worked with Newey between 2000 and 2005, believes Ferrari may not have it easy in trying to sign him having been turned down multiple times over the years despite their tempting offers.

"I think the only reason Adrian will go to another team...It won't be for money of course, it will be for the challenge that lies ahead," he said speaking on behalf of OLBG.

"I think in days gone by I mean, Adrian, if you believe the rumours, has had multiple contract offers from Ferrari and always turned them down.

"He's always sort of... partly because he didn't want to move his family to Italy but partly because there's been a very politicised environment there which he didn't really fancy being part of."

Priestley though states that circumstances could prove different this time around, with Ferrari having become a more settled team since the arrival of Frederic Vasseur as team principal.

"I do think Ferrari is changing. Ferrari under Fred Vasseur, and you're seeing it in results, but you're also seeing it in the way the team operates and communicates, it's becoming more relaxed," he added.

"It's becoming smoother as an operation. And they're starting to get decent results. They are on the up. They're a team that's heading back towards the top. It's one of the reasons Lewis Hamilton I'm sure has decided to go there."

Newey and Hamilton could form F1 dream team

Hamilton is another key figure Priestley worked with at McLaren before he departed the team in 2009, being a key part of the Woking outfit's 2008 title success with the now seven-time champion.

Priestley believes that the Newey/Hamilton combination could be the final cog of ending Ferrari championship drought that stretches back to the 2008 season in the constructors' championship and 2007 in the drivers' crown with Kimi Raikkonen.

"Adrian, if he did decide to go to Ferrari, he would want to have a major impact on the next big set of regulations coming in 2026, and he'd love to do that in Ferrari," he continued.

"Together with Lewis and Charles Leclerc if he can bring back that elusive championship to Ferrari and they haven't had one since 2007, with Kimi. That would be an unbelievable achievement to cap off on already great career wouldn't it?"

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

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