Adrian Newey will leave Red Bull in March 2025, but Christian Horner has already planned what the line of succession will be by locking down Waché, Balbo and Waterhouse
May 7, 2024
Llast week Red Bull has announced the departure of Adrian Newey whose contract was due to expire at the end of the 2025 season. The designer will formally leave Milton Keynes in March but the The 2024 Miami Grand Prix was the last chance to see him at work in the Formula 1 department of world champions. The 65-year-old engineer will focus on the finishing touches of the RB17 Hypercar project which is expected to be presented at the Goodwood Festival, seen by Christian Horner as Newey’s legacy to the Austrian team. If the future of the Briton is still to be defined, most likely with a final destination in Maranello in Scuderia Ferrari, what the succession at Red Bull will be has already been defined.
GAdrian Newey’s role had been reduced for several years, with fewer hours in attendance at its headquarters in Milton Keynes and other projects such as the RB17 hypercar; therefore, the handover to his successor should not trigger the earthquake that many in the Circus had predicted. Therefore being a farewell announcedaccording to the words of Christian Horner, the most successful designer of the modern era of Formula 1 was also consulted by the team principal in planning who will succeed him in the world champion team. No purchase for Red Bull who has decided to focus on current team membersgoing to reaffirm their roles with three important renewals.
Christian Horner and Pierre Waché
LThe first confirmation is that of Pierre Waché which it should stay at Red Bull until 2028 in the role of technical director, who he had already taken over years earlier when Newey began to take his first steps back into team management. The 49-year-old French engineer ended up in the sights of Ferrari and Mercedes last year, but now it’s Newey who is tempting him and is evaluating the best possibilities, including Aston Martin, for his future after gardening. As Max Verstappen also stated, it is not just one man who allows the team to dominate on the track, but the entire team. For this reason, Christian Horner also extended the stay of Enrico Balbothe 43 year old Italian responsible for aerodynamics which he already renewed with the Milton Keynes team last year, when the rumors of his possible arrival at Maranello had become increasingly persistent. Closing the team is Ben Waterhouse which currently covers the role as head of performance engineers. With this triumvirate, which will report directly to team principal Horner, the Red Bull hopes not to interrupt the streak of dominance that began in 2021 with Max Verstappen’s first drivers’ world championship and subsequently confirmed in 2022 with the debut of ground effect single-seaters, the subject of Newey’s degree thesis.
