Adrian Newey to Ferrari? Is it possible?

[Forester1965]

Hustle_ said:

At least Chapman built cars which, although very fast, often fell apart

If you drove a Chapman car it was kind of a reverse Airfix kit- the car arrived fully assembled and you disassembled it as you drove around the track.

[Leithen]

Whichever team offers Newey the largest share in their team wins. If none of them do, Ferrari wins.

A stake in a team will be the only thing that stops him following Barnard to Italy.

[matrignano]

RichB said:

A Ferrari racing yacht ? I guess it's possible, after all there was this lovely looking machine in the '50s.

Ferrari have officially announced their entry to the Americas cup so it all stacks together nicely

[ghost83]

Hope he goes to ferrari

[Still Mulling]

Forester1965 said:

If you drove a Chapman car it was kind of a reverse Airfix kit- the car arrived fully assembled and you disassembled it as you drove around the track.

[Supersam83]

Fred Vasseur is doing a Jean Todt at Ferrari and building a dream team.

It reminds me of when Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, and Michael Schumacher were all signed up and left to do their best without the pressure that Ferrari would normally bring.

Fred Vasseur, Adrian Newey, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc sounds like a very good pairing with Fred Vasseur letting them get on with it.

The future of Ferrari F1 is looking very good!

[RichB]

matrignano said:

RichB said:

A Ferrari racing yacht ? I guess it's possible, after all there was this lovely looking machine in the '50s.

Ferrari have officially announced their entry to the Americas cup so it all stacks together nicely

didn't know that, thanks...

[suffolk009]

A little bit of the story about Ferrari going sailing: https://robbreport.com/motors/marine/ferrari-build...

[wiliferus]

Supersam83 said:

Fred Vasseur is doing a Jean Todt at Ferrari and building a dream team.

Fred Vasseur, Adrian Newey, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc sounds like a very good pairing with Fred Vasseur letting them get on with it.

The future of Ferrari F1 is looking very good!

Agreed. If Newey is going there, which I suspect he is, Ferrari could be heading for a golden era.

I think someone else mentioned, I’d love to see him at Williams to drag them back to form but I just can’t see it sadly.

[Gary C]

ghost83 said:

Hope he goes to ferrari

Me too

It would shake things up and possibly mean a few exciting years

[Puddenchucker]

What are the chances of Horner being booted out of / paid-off to leave RB and Newey staying put?

[suffolk009]

Puddenchucker said:

What are the chances of Horner being booted out of / paid-off to leave RB and Newey staying put?

I'm guessing immesurably close to zero.

[Leithen]

wiliferus said:

Supersam83 said:

Fred Vasseur is doing a Jean Todt at Ferrari and building a dream team.

Fred Vasseur, Adrian Newey, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc sounds like a very good pairing with Fred Vasseur letting them get on with it.

The future of Ferrari F1 is looking very good!

Agreed. If Newey is going there, which I suspect he is, Ferrari could be heading for a golden era.

I think someone else mentioned, I’d love to see him at Williams to drag them back to form but I just can’t see it sadly.

Apparently Elkann has told Vigna to leave Vasseur to do his thing, which is good. Different times with far more personnel than in the late 90's, but if Newey goes to Ferrari, they are getting back to where they need to be. Brawn and Byrne offered an excellent partnership of engineering and design - they might need more of the Brawn side still.

If the move is happening, the big question centres on any period of gardening leave and whether Newey would have time to help with the 2026 car.

Just imagine if Williams and Head had offered Newey a stake in the team in the mid nineties. Things might be very different today.

[HocusPocus]

The romantic in me would love to see Newey design a car for LH and CL to race for Ferrari. It is a sporting story full of hope and potential.

How might the widely reported trigger of Newey's departure from Horner/RBR be judged in history when all is known?

[wiliferus]

Will also be interesting to see how it affects the performance of the RBR car. The Newey effect is strong, but it would be naive to think RBR hasn’t got some other very talented people who have learnt the Newey way.
Will RBR drop away 2026 onwards or will they be ok?

[Blib]

I wonder how many, if any, of his team will leave with Newey?

If he just decides to just retire and spend his time racing his boats and cars then none, I assume.

Others resigning from RB may well be the clue to his intentions.

[kambites]

wiliferus said:

Will also be interesting to see how it affects the performance of the RBR car. The Newey effect is strong, but it would be naive to think RBR hasn’t got some other very talented people who have learnt the Newey way.
Will RBR drop away 2026 onwards or will they be ok?

I don't think they're going to implode, but similarly I don't think their car will be quite as aerodynamically strong as it would have been had he remained. In a way, perhaps the bigger question is how much he drags someone else forwards than how much Redbull fall back?

[kambites]

Blib said:

I wonder how many, if any, of his team will leave with Newey?

We all know he's something of a genius, but we don't really know how pleasant or easy he is to work with. Maybe the rest of the technical team will want to follow him or maybe they will see it as an opportunity to spread their wings without his overbearing presence at the top of the Redbull technical structure.

Assuming Redbull promote internally rather than buying in someone expensive from elsewhere, I guess there's going to be a fair bit more money floating around for the people who remain in the technical team.

[shirt]

wiliferus said:

Will also be interesting to see how it affects the performance of the RBR car. The Newey effect is strong, but it would be naive to think RBR hasn’t got some other very talented people who have learnt the Newey way.
Will RBR drop away 2026 onwards or will they be ok?

I’d say it depends on rb powertrains. I think they’re far enough ahead chassis wise but the big regs change is in the engine and packaging of it. Newey can obviously bring a lot to the table and if the other side of that table is an oem, then it’s a bingo.

Personally can’t see him leaving for anyone other than Ferrari. To bring maranello their first title in 20yrs would seal his legacy as the best f1 designer of all time.

Ferrari can also afford to pay him enough for him not to be concerned about equity. They’re also publicly listed so can give him shares in the parent company.

Ferrari as a company are very bouyant, ever growing, and having him and Lewis and a title would be very good business indeed. Elkan knows this.

It’s very much planets aligning stuff and, as a non tribal f1 fan, I hope to god it comes off.

Edited by shirt on Friday 26th April 11:41

[BrettMRC]

I think RBR will be fine, they have poached a lot of talent from other teams over the last 5 years - that's assisted their move back to the front, (catering budget aside) and also hampered the teams those people left.

Assuming the leadership structure, (not the people) is left to work in the same way then it shouldn't be too impactful in the short term.

The lack of guidance/morale impact from Newey leaving is harder to calculate; it must lend a lot of confidence to the design team knowing he's backing you up.