F1 Rumor: Fred Vasseur Pulls Out of Race for Adrian Newey

“I think the red clashes a bit with the dark blue. But I think anything is possible with great colors, like green,” said Helmut Marko, talking about Adrian Newey’s future. And this prophecy might be on the verge of coming true as Frederic Vasseur, who is giving the reigning champions Red Bull a run for their money without Newey’s alchemy, may not be interested in him at all.

Before the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that Newey would leave the team next season, having already stepped back from their Formula 1 operations. The 65-year-old, who has been with Red Bull for two decades and whose cars have won 13 championship titles and counting, will say goodbye to the team sometime in the first quarter of 2025. But he says he might still have a couple of good years left in him, meaning he will join another team.

While the world has been hoping for a Newey-Ferrari-Lewis Hamilton dream team, according to new reports and rumors, that might not happen. According to AMUS, Michael Schmidt says that Ferrari isn’t interested in Adrian Newey anymore. Williams and McLaren contacted Newey. Newey also talked with Mercedes and Aston Martin.

Though it is still uncertain where the most successful man in F1 will land, one certain thing is that it will leave a gaping hole in Red Bull’s fabric.

Helmut Marko ponders the “psychological factor” of Adrian Newey’s departure

2024 is not the year Red Bull was expecting it to be. Starting from the Christian Horner controversy to key figures leaving the team, Also, when everyone thought that Max Verstappen would cruise to the championship, even that is not panning out as comfortably for the Milton Keynes-based outfit. And to add to their misery, the most important man on the team, Adrian Newey, also put in his papers. However, according to the senior advisor of the team, it will have more of a psychological impact than anything else, especially for the bright team of new engineers on the team.

According to Motorsport-Total, Helmut Marko said, “It’s also a psychological factor. There have been many young engineers who have probably only come to us because working under Newey had its appeal, and he is the most successful designer. [He is] a very pleasant, slightly philosophical personality who somehow stood out from the rest of this very modern Formula 1 entourage.”

Where do you think Adrian Newey will end up after his Red Bull commitments?