Max Verstappen is facing a bitter blow as Red Bull are reportedly mulling over whether to ban chief technology officer Adrian Newey from their F1 set-up. F1 teams are under pressure to be efficient with their spending because of the cost cap, and Red Bull could decide to sacrifice Newey.
F1 introduced a cost cap ahead of the 2021 season in an attempt to level the playing field, with teams permitted to spend £114million that year. In 2022, teams were given a spending limit of £110m and then had a maximum of £106m at their disposal last year.
According to Auto, Motor und Sport, Red Bull’s current plan is to transfer Newey to work entirely on the RB17 hypercar project in the medium term to get his salary off the F1 books and free up some space in their budget. That would allow one of the three high-earner jobs that sit outside of the budget cap to become available to someone else.
Newey is currently working partly in the Red Bull F1 team, but the rules say his salary must be fully accounted for if he plays any role at all in the sport. If he were to be transferred over to the RB17 project full-time, Newey would effectively be banned from working on the F1 machines.
With Newey guiding the team’s design, Red Bull have managed to create a supercar in recent years that has blown all the competition out of the water. The energy drink giants stormed to the Constructors’ Championship title in 2023 after winning all but one Grand Prix. Verstappen was victorious in 19 of the 22 races, while his team-mate Sergio Perez won on two occasions.
But the current crop of F1 cars reach their development limits faster than previous generations of vehicles. And with former Red Bull duo Dan Fallows and Rob Marshall being poached by Aston Martin and McLaren respectively, there may be a limit to the near-term impact Newey can have when it comes to improving his team’s F1 car.
Mercedes chief James Allison recently insisted that Red Bull improvements could be restricted because of the current regulations. And if Red Bull think Newey’s salary would be better spent on other things, they could decide to move him on to their hypercar project full-time.
Verstappen and Newey clearly have huge respect for one another and have developed a strong relationship. And they have driven Red Bull’s success in recent years. Last season, Newey said: “Max is clearly one of the all-time greats and he’s at the top of his game.” And Verstappen responded by saying: “It’s a very enjoyable time to be driving the car.”
So if Newey does step away from F1, it could have a negative impact on Verstappen, who will be looking to win his fourth consecutive world title this year.
