Newey Contradicts Horner's Claim About Him And Regulation Changes

Monday, 13 May 2024 at 18:00

Adrian Newey (Red Bull's departing chief technical officer) contradicted Christian Horner's statement about him and regulation changes.

Technical regulations are a normal part of F1. They come every few years with the goal of increasing safety, driving technological progress, or making the sport more exciting for F1 fans.

F1 underwent the latest major technical regulation change in 2022. Each time new regulations are introduced, there is a great chance the pecking order will be reshuffled based on who gets it right.

In 2022, we saw Mercedes's long-term dominance come to an end while Red Bull's dominance began. In 2026, everything might change again, and Red Bull will not have their star designer, Adrian Newey, to help.

The 65-year-old will depart the team from Milton Keynes at the beginning of 2025. Nevertheless, Horner suggested the designer didn't like regulation changes either way. He told Sky Sports F1:

"The ironic thing is, he [Adrian Newey] has always hated every single regulation change. 2026 is a unique one, because it's both chassis and engine regs."

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The interesting thing is that Sky Sports also asked the departing chief technical officer about his feelings about regulation changes, and he said:

I do enjoy regulation changes, for sure. This current crop of regulations was the biggest regulations change we've had since 1983 when flat-bottom floors came in. So, I really enjoyed the challenge of all the research and detail design of that car.

Red Bull's current success is highly attributed to Newey, as he was supposed to play a vital role in setting the direction of their car development.

The star designer is now heavily connected with a potential move to Ferrari (by Italian media), so he might even join and help Red Bull's rival in 2026. He added:

"These two subsequent cars are evolutions of that car [the RB18], and next year's car will be the third evolution of that car, so that's been a great series - one that surprised me just how much there is in these cars. When I first looked at the regulations, I wasn't so sure. But yeah, it's been fun."