Officially, Adrian Newey is still under contract with Red Bull. That’s why Christian Horner didn’t appreciate seeing his engineer announce with great fanfare, alongside Lawrence Stroll, his arrival at Aston Martin F1 from next year.
“It was obviously a big announcement from Aston. And you know, Adrian has always had a tendency to do what he wants. It was obviously a big moment for this team but they chose to celebrate it maybe a little prematurely before his contract with Red Bull Racing ended.” had tackled Christian Horner on this occasion.
Newey has also been ruled out of all circuit travel by Red Bull until the end of the year following this announcement.
So did Newey disrespect the team that hosted him the longest in F1?
For David Coulthard, it is quite possible. It was very strange to see Newey parading alongside Lawrence Stroll, while for example Hamilton has not yet been officially presented at Ferrari.
The former McLaren F1 driver answered this subject in good company, since he spoke on the Formula for Success podcast alongside Eddie Jordan, Newey’s manager.
“It is not uncommon for transfer announcements to be made, especially for drivers, and in sport, footballers change teams even when they are playing.”
“I have to be honest: I was in a situation where, when I left Williams, I went to McLaren during the 1995 season and sat down with the engineers towards the end of the season to give as much information as I could remember.
“I didn’t feel very comfortable doing it, frankly, but Ron Dennis asked me to, I was young and that’s where I was going to work in 1996.”
“I remember sitting down with Mario Ilien, who was behind the Mercedes engine, and he asked me about the Renault engine. I really felt unprofessional – and that’s my confession.”
And Coulthard tackled Newey’s behaviour somewhat, in front of Eddie Jordan himself!
“I haven’t had the chance to see Adrian with Aston, to see him in the press conference, walking around the factory as he’s still contracted to Red Bull – he’s still working on the RB17, the road car, which looks exceptional.”
“I felt like he was giving his family the finger when they saw that he was leaving them.”
“Adrian is a friend. And so when you talk publicly about your friends, they may not like it, but it’s my truth.”
“I told you my truth and I didn’t like being at McLaren while I was still under contract at Williams.”
“I said earlier in the year that Lewis was mentally at Ferrari and of course some people who think I’m negative about Lewis will say: You’ve never won anything, what are you talking about?
“It’s not important what I won or didn’t win, but what is important is what it’s like to have one foot in your next relationship when you’re still in a relationship.”
“And it doesn’t matter whether you’re in business or whether it’s a relationship in the purest sense of the word, people having affairs and all that. You can’t give 100 percent to two things. You’re going to give 100 percent to one thing.”
Jordan responds to Coulthard’s accusations
Of course, Newey’s manager, a certain Eddie Jordan, denies any rudeness. And he responds sharply to David Coulthard.
“I will defend him.”
“First of all, I would say that organising the press release for Adrian Newey of Red Bull was, for me – and I’m not a young guy anymore – probably one of the most professional and coolest things I’ve ever done.”
“And I say that because most of it was kept secret. The fact that we reached an agreement was kept secret.”
“You didn’t hear from me until September 6th, and that was the date Red Bull set for us to say anything or not.”
“So I have nothing but admiration for Adrian because he didn’t say a word until the date that Red Bull allowed us to comment.”
Isn’t Newey still under contract with Milton Keynes?
“Adrian is not here at Red Bull. He is on gardening leave. It’s a completely different thing, you mix [tu = Coulthard] the drivers and team members.
“Adrian is on gardening leave. He has a date in his contract, which was stipulated by me and Red Bull and which has been respected in all cases.”
“I can promise you that I don’t know of anyone who has broken that date, and so we’ve done everything in our power to meet it.”
“Adrian was very particular about it. The respect he has for Red Bull is incredible and insurmountable in many ways, because I think it’s there.”
“It’s in him, he said it was his family. And it’s his family, it’s your family, David, and, indirectly, it’s probably mine too, for the 20 years that I’ve known Christian and the 30 years that I’ve known Dietrich Mateschitz. [le défunt fondateur de Red Bull]. »
“It happened in the most incredibly correct way. It might be the best thing I’ve ever done.”
“The reason I say that is because it was all organized and coordinated in such an elegant way that I’m very proud of it.”
“I’m very proud of Red Bull, I’m very proud of myself and my actions there and I’m incredibly proud of Adrian and the way he handled this situation.”
