Christian Horner: Adrian Newey’s response to the former team principal’s accusation

Ever since Christian Horner was sacked last year, rumours have been circulating time and again about his return to the Formula 1 paddock. The Briton has already been linked with several teams; most recently, there has even been speculation about a possible move to Ferrari. This was fuelled not least by the former Red Bull Racing team principal himself, through a number of statements which he later dismissed as a misunderstanding.

Horner is currently back in the spotlight in Formula 1 circles, though not because of a supposed comeback, but because of the biography *Drive*, which he recently published. In it, he also discusses the departure of long-serving Red Bull Racing technical director Adrian Newey, who is now working for Aston Martin.

Newey had been toying with the idea of leaving for years prior to that; at the time, Ferrari had tried to lure the car designer on board. Horner addresses this period in his book, explaining that he was disappointed during the 2014 season when, after just a few months working on the new hybrid power unit, Newey began to consider a move to another team.

It became clear at the time that the Renault power unit in the Red Bull Racing car was anything but competitive. “I stood by him and believed that he stood by me too. But at the first sign of trouble, Adrian wanted to jump ship. That made me very sad,” writes Horner. This affected their working relationship. “I could no longer rely on him. Our partnership wasn’t as solid as I’d previously believed,” the 52-year-old accuses Newey.

Adrian Newey emphasises: The frustration was immense

When asked about this in Austin, Newey explained that he hadn’t yet read Horner’s book. And he added: “In 2014, it worked like this: if the engine manufacturer has a bad year, then that’s just the way it is – you accept it. But if the power unit manufacturer then clearly has no intention of tackling the problem, that’s a completely different story, because then things look pretty bleak.”

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“Unfortunately, that was exactly the situation we found ourselves in back in 2014. And as it turned out, it only changed when we switched to Honda in 2019. So you can imagine how painful and frustrating that was for me. “I don’t think Christian perhaps fully understood that,” the 67-year-old continued.

Ultimately, Newey decided to extend his contract after Red Bull Racing granted him the freedom to pursue other projects as well, such as the Red Bull RB17 supercar. Newey insisted that he and Horner “remain friends”. And he added: “As many people know, I’m also the godfather to his daughter Olivia.”