Adrian Newey to Ferrari? Is it possible?

[Bo_apex]

Still Mulling said:

And once more I refer back to the sailing announcement. It does seem awfully coincidental.

I agree. It's possible.

But does Newey really need all that spaghetti politics ? Catering budgets aside ofcourse

[seymourski]

What if Newey was the first domino in what we're currently seeing in F1?

What if he's decided, for whatever reason (maybe fed up with the "power struggle" or just for a new challenge), to leave Red Bull and has signed for Ferrari for 2025. Ferrari hear Hamilton is open to a move and use the lure of a Newey designed car to get him to sign up.

Meanwhile, the Verstappens (or Red Bull themselves) blame the loss of Newey on Horner and, as part of their power grab, contrive a situation to try and force Horner out.

Obviously, all a conspiracy theory, but it would explain LH's move which I still find quite puzzling as I can't see the swap to Ferrari as anything other than a sideways move from Mercedes....and, surely, better the devil you know?

Pure speculation but does help some of the pieces fit; at least in my mind.

[kambites]

Bo_apex said:

Still Mulling said:

And once more I refer back to the sailing announcement. It does seem awfully coincidental.

I agree. It's possible.

But does Newey really need all that spaghetti politics ? Catering budgets aside ofcourse

I think that's what makes is so unlikely. By his own accounts, Newey's main reasons for his previous moves have been that he got fed up with the power struggles and political wrangling wherever he was at the time. Whilst Redbull may not be entirely harmonious at the moment, it's difficult to see Ferrari, of all places, being better!

He seem to have two requirements in his employer - firstly he needs to feel appreciated in proportion to his contribution and secondly he needs to feel that he is being given enough autonomy to do his job properly. I'm not sure he'd get either of those at Ferrari.

Unless of course Ferrari have, as they apparently have with Hamilton, offered him the moon on a stick to go there. You could imagine that Ferrari, faced with the cost cap in its current form, have simply thought "sod it, we have a huge budget available and can spend as much as we want on our top two employees (or whatever the rule is), lets make sure they're the best top two employees out there".

Edited by kambites on Thursday 15th February 10:49

[Chamon_Lee]

seymourski said:

What if Newey was the first domino in what we're currently seeing in F1?

What if he's decided, for whatever reason (maybe fed up with the "power struggle" or just for a new challenge), to leave Red Bull and has signed for Ferrari for 2025. Ferrari hear Hamilton is open to a move and use the lure of a Newey designed car to get him to sign up.

Meanwhile, the Verstappens (or Red Bull themselves) blame the loss of Newey on Horner and, as part of their power grab, contrive a situation to try and force Horner out.

Obviously, all a conspiracy theory, but it would explain LH's move which I still find quite puzzling as I can't see the swap to Ferrari as anything other than a sideways move from Mercedes....and, surely, better the devil you know?

Pure speculation but does help some of the pieces fit; at least in my mind.

I would say that is very plausible as are a few other variations but there is no doubt about it that there is more to this than meets the eye.

[Burrow01]

Seems like he is planning for a significant period of free time....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkb-bXrChw

[Bo_apex]

kambites said:

Bo_apex said:

Still Mulling said:

And once more I refer back to the sailing announcement. It does seem awfully coincidental.

I agree. It's possible.

But does Newey really need all that spaghetti politics ? Catering budgets aside ofcourse

I think that's what makes is so unlikely. By his own accounts, Newey's main reasons for his previous moves have been that he got fed up with the power struggles and political wrangling wherever he was at the time. Whilst Redbull may not be entirely harmonious at the moment, it's difficult to see Ferrari, of all places, being better!

He seem to have two requirements in his employer - firstly he needs to feel appreciated in proportion to his contribution and secondly he needs to feel that he is being given enough autonomy to do his job properly. I'm not sure he'd get either of those at Ferrari.

Unless of course Ferrari have, as they apparently have with Hamilton, offered him the moon on a stick to go there. You could imagine that Ferrari, faced with the cost cap in its current form, have simply thought "sod it, we have a huge budget available and can spend as much as we want on our top two employees (or whatever the rule is), lets make sure they're the best top two employees out there".

Edited by kambites on Thursday 15th February 10:49

I tend to agree, and although Ferrari have offered Lewis the moon, it's Lewis who needs Ferrari. Newey doesn't need Ferrari, and could probably lead his own sailing team with the right consortium.

[suffolk009]

kambites said:

....Unless of course Ferrari have, as they apparently have with Hamilton, offered him the moon on a stick to go there. You could imagine that Ferrari, faced with the cost cap in its current form, have simply thought "sod it, we have a huge budget available and can spend as much as we want on our top two employees (or whatever the rule is), lets make sure they're the best top two employees out there".

Edited by kambites on Thursday 15th February 10:49

IIRC it's the top 4 employees. And drivers are not included in that number. And it's as likely as not that I'm 100% wrong about that.

[suffolk009]

Burrow01 said:

Seems like he is planning for a significant period of free time....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkb-bXrChw

A very beautiful boat. And did he turn up in the car park in a 250 Ferrari?

[Mark-C]

suffolk009 said:

Burrow01 said:

Seems like he is planning for a significant period of free time....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkb-bXrChw

A very beautiful boat. And did he turn up in the car park in a 250 Ferrari?

He certainly owns one ...

[Sandpit Steve]

Still Mulling said:

suffolk009 said:

F1, LeMans and road cars must hold some appeal.

And once more I refer back to the sailing announcement. It does seem awfully coincidental.

What’s the chance that two sailing boats come out of that project, one high-performance production sailboat aimed at producing a few dozen a year for the billionaires of this world, and the other a prototype aimed squarely at the Americas Cup, which is F1 on water but with fewer technical regulations. We all know that Newey has a keen interest in the latter project, winning which would be an almighty finale to his career.

[Zarco]

Muzzer79 said:

That's a symptom of the direction the sport has headed.

Adrian is the last of the designers who designed the whole car, using an easel. Nowadays, they design a front wing end fence. Or an engine cover.

Perhaps that's why Newey is so good.....

Using an easel you say? Newey is truely the Picasso of F1.

[Sandpit Steve]

suffolk009 said:

kambites said:

....Unless of course Ferrari have, as they apparently have with Hamilton, offered him the moon on a stick to go there. You could imagine that Ferrari, faced with the cost cap in its current form, have simply thought "sod it, we have a huge budget available and can spend as much as we want on our top two employees (or whatever the rule is), lets make sure they're the best top two employees out there".

Edited by kambites on Thursday 15th February 10:49

IIRC it's the top 4 employees. And drivers are not included in that number. And it's as likely as not that I'm 100% wrong about that.

Current cost cap staffing rule is three wild card employees, plus the drivers. So it’s usually team principal, technical director, and one other (chief aero, chief strategy etc).

Also, employees are only inside the cost cap if they contribute directly to building and running the car, so you can for example hire a hotshot CFO, headhunter, marketing director etc outside the cap.

But yes, if Ferrari wants to throw eight figures per year at Newey, they’re allowed to do it!

[Gary C]

seymourski said:

LH's move which I still find quite puzzling .

I don't

He is nearing retirement and fancies being a Ferrari driver with all that comes with that.

[Burrow01]

Mark-C said:

suffolk009 said:

Burrow01 said:

Seems like he is planning for a significant period of free time....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkb-bXrChw

A very beautiful boat. And did he turn up in the car park in a 250 Ferrari?

He certainly owns one ...

It looked like it, very cool indeed

He mentions in the video that he has the first trip planned, basically sailing around the Med, sounded like a long trip.... He did not mention sailing to Italy though

[seymourski]

Gary C said:

I don't

He is nearing retirement and fancies being a Ferrari driver with all that comes with that.

Yes, I get that and if LH was seeing out his (recently signed) contract at Mercedes then moving to Ferrari I would see the logic. Surely, he could have negotiated a move there at the end of his Mercedes tenure and still been attractive to them and scratch that particular itch.

I guess my question is what has, relatively suddenly, changed that has enticed him to terminate early to go to Ferrari? To me it has to be more that "it's Ferrari".

Just my rambling thoughts based on nothing but gut feeling.

[Gary C]

seymourski said:

Gary C said:

I don't

He is nearing retirement and fancies being a Ferrari driver with all that comes with that.

Yes, I get that and if LH was seeing out his (recently signed) contract at Mercedes then moving to Ferrari I would see the logic. Surely, he could have negotiated a move there at the end of his Mercedes tenure and still been attractive to them and scratch that particular itch.

I guess my question is what has, relatively suddenly, changed that has enticed him to terminate early to go to Ferrari? To me it has to be more that "it's Ferrari".

Just my rambling thoughts based on nothing but gut feeling.

Maybe, will be interesting to see it play out.

[Sandpit Steve]

seymourski said:

Yes, I get that and if LH was seeing out his (recently signed) contract at Mercedes then moving to Ferrari I would see the logic. Surely, he could have negotiated a move there at the end of his Mercedes tenure and still been attractive to them and scratch that particular itch.

I guess my question is what has, relatively suddenly, changed that has enticed him to terminate early to go to Ferrari? To me it has to be more that "it's Ferrari".

Just my rambling thoughts based on nothing but gut feeling.

As someone posted on the LH thread, who doesn’t turn 40 and think about driving a Ferrari?

[suffolk009]

Zarco said:

Using an easel you say? Newey is truely the Picasso of F1.

He famouisly has a very large drawing board. You can draw a whole car on it at 1:1.

(ETA, now I think about it, it might be Gordon Murray I'm thinking of)

Edited by suffolk009 on Thursday 15th February 15:51

[Forester1965]

suffolk009 said:

He famouisly has a very large drawing board. You can draw a whole car on it at 1:1.

(ETA, now I think about it, it might be Gordon Murray I'm thinking of)

Is he good at drawing Gordon Murray?

[Still Mulling]

Forester1965 said:

Is he good at drawing Gordon Murray?

Niche.