It’s officially Wimbledon season! And a few familiar faces from F1 are in London to celebrate it. George Russell, Pierre Gasly, and the iconic Jackie Stewart were all present at the historic All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on Wednesday. While Gasly met with current Singles Champion Carlos Alcaraz, George Russell ran into Novak Djokovic. But it was the meeting between Russell and Newey, the Red Bull car designer who will leave the outfit before next season, that has started a wave of speculations.

With 12 World Constructors’ Championship titles under his belt, Adrian Newey has served Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull in his F1 career. The aero wizard is one of the most successful in his field as he is the builder of the Championship challengers that brought Sebastian Vettel his 4 F1 Drivers’ World titles and Max Verstappen his title hat-trick. However, the 65-year-old has decided to step down from his role as the Chief Technical Officer of Red Bull in 2025.

Now, there have been several rumors as to which F1 team will be lucky enough to land a deal with Newey for the upcoming seasons. But a recent snap from Wimbledon has indicated to the fans that Mercedes might be interested in roping up Adrian Newey!

Fans claim George Russell was ‘lobbying’ for Mercedes at Wimbledon!

Till now, the frontrunners in the battle for Adrian Newey had been Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Williams. However, George Russell‘s meeting with Adrian Newey at Wimbledon has made some fans wonder if Mercedes is trying to hire the British engineer. In a photo from the tennis tournament that has gone viral, Russell is seen shaking hands with Newey while Sir Jackie Stewart stands in the middle.

The unusual meet-up between the trio has stirred up conversations on social media where some believe it is a deal they are agreeing on, or others believe the scene looks straight out of a ‘Godfather’ movie! Echoing the same sentiment, an individual wrote, “Newey to Mercedes confirmed!” The X users are speculating that the smiles pasted on his faces are more than just wishing each other a ‘good day’.

With a success rate that is as steep as Newey’s, it is no surprise that hiring the Briton would cost any F1 team a fortune. But Mercedes does have that kind of a budget since it is one of the leading squads in its field. Thus, when the news of Newey leaving Red Bull reached Merc boss Toto Wolff, he talked about the possibility of hiring the Brit.

He said, “I think no team can discard Adrian, but he needs to fit into the organization and he needs to want it.” Now, the viral Wimbledon photo with the Silver Arrows racer and Adrian Newey in the same frame shows their interests might have aligned. So, a smart F1 watcher commented, “Mercedes Newey“.

Even though some commenters only concluded that a deal might be in the works between Mercedes and Adrian Newey, others could not help talking about the similarity of the Wimbledon photo to a shot from any ‘Mafioso’ movie. According to these X users, George Russell in a sharp suit greeting Adrian Newey in his impeccable outfit, is almost like two Mafia members reaching an agreement in a crowded space to avoid conflict!

Some Hollywood aficionados flocked to the comments section and found similarities between this handshake with the Red Bull CTO and the famous 1978 ‘Godfather’ scene, where Marlon Brando shook hands with Al Lettieri.

Fans of Toto Wolff even speculated it was the Mercedes Team Principal’s idea to send George Russell as a representative of the Stuttgart outfit. They commented that Wolff might have asked George to “lobby” Adrian Newey into agreeing to a deal with the Silver Arrows so that he would design Championship-winning cars for the team that has not won a single Constructors’ title since 2021.

While the fans’ speculations keep coming in waves, there is still no official confirmation regarding Adrian Newey’s future. But a recent report from Jeremy Clarkson, Newey’s old friend, says that the Briton is house hunting in Oxfordshire, which happens to be Williams’ neighborhood. So, will the legacy team be able to snatch Adrian Newey from under the nose of Mercedes?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.