Newey will not be last to leave Red Bull – Brown

Adrian Newey will not be the last person to leave Red Bull amid the turmoil surrounding the team, says McLaren boss Zak Brown.

Newey will leave Red Bull in early 2025 after securing an early release from his contract in the wake of allegations made against team boss Christian Horner.

Brown said: “The stuff going on there is pretty destabilising. I’m guessing it won’t be the last (person to leave) given the resumes that are flying around.”

A Red Bull spokesperson said: “In the past few months, all our technical leadership team have signed long-term contracts committing to Red Bull Racing.

“So we’re not sure what CVs Zak is referring to but we don’t foresee any significant loss and certainly not the domino effect Zak is hoping for.”

Among the figures the spokesperson was referring to are technical director Pierre Wache, head of aerodynamics Enrico Balbo, head of performance engineering Ben Waterhouse, head of trackside engineering Paul Monaghan and Max Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.

Brown said he was “not surprised” that Newey was leaving after a female employee made allegations of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour against Horner, who has denied the claims and been cleared of them following an internal investigation.

Brown said: “Given everything that’s gone on since the beginning of the year, and knowing Adrian pretty well – he is a very high-integrity individual – I’m not surprised. The stuff going on there is pretty destabilising.”

He added: “We have seen an increase in CVs coming in our way from the team, and Adrian is the most successful designer of all time.

“People want to work for people like Adrian Newey. I think they will be missing what he brings from a pure technical point of view, and then the leadership and the excitement you get from working with him will be missed.”

Brown did not rule out a move for Newey from McLaren.

He said he was “very happy” with McLaren’s technical team but was “always looking for” new personnel who would be “additive”.