Helmut Marko not holding back as he shares his thoughts on Adrian Newey’s Red Bull exit

Never one to mince his words, Helmut Marko has called the departure of “legend” Adrian Newey a “big loss” for Red Bull Racing.

Nearly two decades after joining Red Bull, a story that’s included seven Drivers’ Championship titles and six Constructors’ crowns with more to come, Newey will leave Red Bull after the first quarter of 2025.

Adrian Newey will leave Red Bull in 2025

The design guru has already stepped back from Formula 1 and will spend his last months with the Milton Keynes squad focusing on the Red Bull RB17 hypercar project.

But while his exit has raised questions about Red Bull’s future with Newey largely credited with the team’s incredible success, which today includes three World titles on the trot for Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez was quick to talk up Red Bull’s design team.

Declaring Red Bull’s success is “not down to one single individual”, the Mexican driver believes technical director Pierre Waché and “the whole aero group is very strong and we’re just looking forward to the future.”

Marko, though, says that doesn’t take away from the huge loss of losing Newey.

“This is of course a big loss for Red Bull Racing,” Marko told Kronen Zeitung.

“He wasn’t always in the day-to-day business, didn’t take care of every detail or every screw, but he was the one who had the complex knowledge of aerodynamics and mechanical grip of the entire car under control.

“In addition, his great successes have made him a legend.”

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But while the motorsport advisor added that Red Bull have built a “young engineering team” that has them “very well positioned”, Newey stood apart in his understanding.

“But of course in 2026 there will be new regulations,” he added. “Whenever such regulations came in the past, it was usually Adrian who was the first to understand it optimally.”

Red Bull also don’t know if Newey is taking up retirement or moving to another team with Ferrari said to be leading the charge.

Team boss Fred Vasseur was asked by F1TV’s Laura Winter about the rumours with the Frenchman all but running away from the questioning.

“I also saw Fred Vasseur and Diego Ioverno in the paddock earlier on,” she said. “I sort of joshed with them, ‘have you been busy this week? Any news? Any meetings?’ Any deals being done?’.

“They practically ran away from me, they were so keen not to give anything away.”

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