Verstappen Finally Shares His View On Newey's Exit From Red Bull

Friday, 03 May 2024 at 10:00

In an interview ahead of the Miami Grand Prix weekend, Max Verstappen discussed the recently announced future departure of the chief technical officer at Red Bull, Adrian Newey.

On Wednesday, May 1st, Red Bull officially confirmed Adrian Newey will be stepping down from his position to focus on the RB17 hypercar project before he departs the team in the first quarter of 2025.

The general notion is that the 65-year-old was to be credited for a considerable part of Red Bull's success and that his exit would be a massive blow for the team.

After reading the news about Newey's departure, everyone wanted to know how the other Red Bull star, Max Verstappen, would respond to the situation.

The 26-year-old previously stated he wanted to continue with the team if everything stayed the same. However, we now know that it clearly hasn't. Nevertheless, the Dutchman clarified again that his "future is the same."

"Nothing really changes in the day-to-day operation, Adrian has been incredibly important from the start, and then the roles shifted a little bit."

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"You have to evolve as a team and as a person as well, and of course, I would have preferred him to stay. But I also know that we have incredible quality in the technical team—that's what they've shown already in the last few years. So I saw that he is leaving, but we also trust our qualities. My future is still the same."

Drivers' words tend to have considerable power and influence on team members. If someone could convince Newey to stay, it probably would be the triple World Champion. However, Verstappen said he doesn't need to convince anyone about anything.

"I don't need to convince anyone [to stay], because, at the end of the day, I don't need to convince anyone, and if someone wants to really leave, then they should leave."

"That's also what I wrote to him. It's not like we don't talk anymore, but if you think that is the right decision for yourself and your family, or you seek a different challenge, you have to do it."