The situation surrounding Adrian Newey, who has been linked with Scuderia Ferrari and Aston Martin in recent days, is becoming increasingly tense. Strong press reports suggest that Red Bull Racing will officially announce Newey's departure today.
Newey's departure may be due to the Christian Horner "affair" and the two's severely strained relationship. Another important aspect could be the budget cap, as the British genius is one of the three highest-paid people at Red Bull. Rumor has it that the engineering genius resents Horner for not primarily building Red Bull's future on him, but on the Pierre Waché - Enrico Balbo duo. An always well-informed German trade paper already states as a foregone conclusion that this is the end:
"It's official today: Red Bull Racing will issue and distribute a press release confirming the departure of star designer Adrian Newey. This has been revealed by a South African source close to Newey," writes F1-Insider.
It remains to be seen how this will affect the team's performance in the long term, but it is starting to become clear why Max Verstappen is winking at him...
