Red Bull Director Finally Breaks Silence on Adrian Newey’s Exit; Claims He Was “Reasonable”

Everyone at Red Bull agrees that Dietrich Mateschitz was the vision and reason behind Red Bull’s success. While Mateschitz looked over Red Bull like his passion project, after his unfortunate death, the baton was handed over to Oliver Mintzlaff, the former RB Leipzig CEO. And while Mintzlaff doesn’t have the same say as Mateschitz, he finally breaks silence on Adrian Newey’s exit. But what did he say?

Building up to the Miami GP, reports started coming in that Adrian Newey had asked Red Bull formally to leave the team, and just a day before the Miami weekend, the news became official. The mastermind behind Red Bull’s F1 Cars and championship will leave the team in the first quarter of 2025, and for the time being, will work on the RB17 hypercar project. 

The reason is believed to be the power struggle at Red Bull, something Newey did not want to get involved in, and the Christian Horner investigation. Red Bull members confirmed that Newey was discontent with the team. Christian Horner is believed to have met the Red Bull Thai owners and is ready to take full control of Red Bull’s Motorsports and beverage division. If this indeed becomes the reality, Oliver Mintzlaff will have even less control over Red Bull Racing. Yet, he talked gracefully about Adrian Newey’s exit, suggesting his decision was reasonable and respected by him. 

According to Speedweek, while speaking with German representatives of Sky, Oliver Mintzlaff, when asked about Adrian Newey’s future said, “You will see that, of course, that is no longer part of our decision,” but emphasized that “The fact is that we treat each other very harmoniously, reasonably and very, very respectfully. We don’t break up in a fight, it is rather the case that Adrian said after a very, very long time that he needs a break, and I think that can be respected and also understood to a bit.”

Oliver Mintzlaff is well aware of what’s going on at Red Bull and probably understood that Newey made the right call at the right time. There seems to be no bad blood between the Red Bull Managing Director and Newey. However, the same cannot be said between Christian Horner and the Red Bull Mastermind. 

Adrian Newey’s “Personal Issue” with Christian Horner hinted as the Red Bull Exit reason

Jos Verstappen’s Red Bull prediction seems to be becoming a reality as he suggested that if Christian Horner continues to stay with Red Bull, it will explode the team, and that’s exactly what is happening. Max Verstappen is rumored to leave Helmut Marko with him, and Adrian Newey has already left. At the same time, the power struggle is a major reason why all three of these Red Bull members are discontent, another major reason for Newey’s exit was suggested as having a personal issue with Horner, as both the Red Bull CEO and Chief Technical Officer shared the same Personality Assistant, the one that accused Horner and was suspended.

Building up to Adrian Newey’s Red Bull exit after the rumors started flooding the paddock, Mark Hughes from The Race wrote, “It’s not as if Newey would be departing because of a general malaise within the team, either; this is very much a personal issue based around the Christian Horner controversy regarding the employee who served as PA to both Horner and Newey”

But what do you think was the reason behind Adrian Newey’s exit?