How sailing helped Red Bull keep Adrian Newey from Ferrari in 2014
Christian Horner has revealed that Adrian Newey seriously considered joining Ferrari in 2014, when Red Bull’s run of four consecutive drivers’ championships had come to an abrupt halt. The celebrated designer ultimately stayed, with a new opportunity outside Formula 1 helping to change his outlook.
Newey has said he came close to a Ferrari move three times during his career. He was linked with the Italian team again after leaving Red Bull in 2024, but the partnership between F1’s most celebrated designer and its most iconic team never materialised. At 67, that prospect now appears unlikely to become reality.
A fresh outlet beyond Formula 1
Red Bull’s championship streak with Sebastian Vettel ran from 2010 to 2013. The team then lost ground to Mercedes at the start of the turbo-hybrid era, and Newey blamed Renault’s shortfall in power and reliability for the decline. According to Horner, the frustration was serious enough that Newey was considering a move to Ferrari.
Red Bull’s response included establishing its Advanced Technologies division in 2014, giving Newey scope to pursue projects beyond F1. Those included elite sailing boats and road cars, among them the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Horner said the arrangement was intended to keep Newey engaged at a difficult moment.
“We did that because Adrian was properly p—– off at the time,” Horner told The Telegraph. He recalled that after Red Bull had “won everything” in 2013, Renault’s less competitive engine the following season prompted Newey to look at Ferrari. Horner also noted Newey’s longstanding interest in the America’s Cup, explaining that Red Bull arranged for him to contribute simulation work and some of his time to BAR, alongside the Valkyrie project.
The Ferrari move that never happened
Ferrari was also struggling in 2014, recording its first winless season since 1993. The team improved the following year after signing Vettel, but did not build a car capable of challenging Mercedes across a full season. Newey, meanwhile, stayed at Red Bull for another decade. The team had to wait until 2021 to reclaim the title with Max Verstappen, then began another four-year run.
Newey left Red Bull in 2024 and chose to remain in the UK by joining Aston Martin. He now faces a situation with a familiar broad outline: the source says the Honda-powered car has been held back by its engine supplier and has scored points only three times. For more on the current Newey-Honda partnership, see our related coverage.
The 2014 episode shows how a parallel design challenge helped Red Bull retain Newey when he was weighing a major change. Ferrari’s long-running near-miss with the engineer remains one of F1’s most notable what-ifs.
Simone Scanu
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.