(CNN) — Red Bull’s pioneering engineer and Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey is set to leave the outfit in the first quarter of 2025, the team announced in a statement on Wednesday.
Newey, who is widely regarded as the greatest designer in the sport’s history, joined Red Bull in 2006 and his championship-winning car designs have to date delivered seven F1 Drivers’ and six Constructors’ Championship titles – totaling 118 victories and 101 poles including the STR 2008 pole and victory.
Prior to Red Bull, the 65-year-old enjoyed successful spells at Williams and McLaren.
“For almost two decades, it has been my great honour to have played a key role in Red Bull Racing’s progress from upstart newcomer to multiple title-winning team,” Newey said in the statement released by Red Bull.
“However, I feel now is an opportune moment to hand that baton over to others and to seek new challenges for myself,” he added.
Newey is currently working on Red Bull’s first hypercar – the hugely anticipated RB17 – and has vowed to devote the remainder of his time to that project.
Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner paid tribute to Newey for his immense contribution which has led to the team winning 13 titles in 20 seasons.
“All of our greatest moments from the past 20 years have come with Adrian’s hand on the technical tiller,” Horner said.
“His exceptional ability to conceptualise beyond F1 and bring wider inspiration to bear on the design of grand prix cars, his remarkable talent for embracing change and finding the most rewarding areas of the rules to focus on, and his relentless will to win have helped Red Bull Racing to become a greater force than I think even the late Dietrich Mateschitz might have imagined,” he added.
On the track, driver Max Verstappen has won three consecutive World Championships since 2021, the latest of which saw the Dutchman win a record-breaking 19 of 22 races.
Verstappen’s domination has continued this season with him winning every race so far except for the Australian Grand Prix when he was forced to retire with a rare mechanical failure.
Despite continuing success on the track, Red Bull’s current season has been overshadowed by the fallout from the external investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior against Horner.
In February, an independent investigation was launched by Red Bull after Horner was accused of engaging in inappropriate behavior towards a member of the racing team, allegations the 50-year-old has denied. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing as announced by the Formula One team’s parent company, Red Bull GMBH.
According to multiple reports in March, Red Bull suspended the female employee who had leveled the accusations against Horner.
Several team principals, including Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, have called for transparency around the investigation into Horner.