On Thursday, it emerged that Red Bull’s chief designer Adrian Newey will leave the team. Inevitably, attention has turned to what this means for the future of Max Verstappen.
Verstappen is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028 but that deal isn’t watertight. There are exit routes that allow him to leave without an interested team having to buy out his massive contract.
There’s chatter in the paddock that he has the option to depart ahead of the 2026 regulation changes. He would only leave, in the eyes of his trainer, if he felt he had a better chance of winning elsewhere.
After all, Verstappen has won the last three championships with the Milton Keynes outfit, two of those in incredibly dominant fashion. He’s on course to make it four in a row this year, and very few would bet against him making it five next season.
But Newey has been a vital component in Red Bull’s success and his exit may well hurt their long-term prospects. Peter Windsor believes that the designer holds the key to the driver market, because Verstappen is likely to follow him wherever he goes.
Indeed, Aston Martin have pushed to sign the Englishman in the belief that the world champion is ‘extremely likely’ to follow. Mercedes also see Newey as a possible route to his signature.
What Adrian Newey exit means for Max Verstappen future
According to The Race, Newey leaving alone may not be enough to convince Verstappen to follow suit. The bigger problem is the chain of events it could set in motion.
The 26-year-old is happy to stay put so long as the team’s ‘key pillars’ remain in place. Newey is one of those, but ‘the Verstappen camp may feel’ that technical director Pierre Wache is even ‘more significant’.
However, there are persistent rumours that Wache could move to Ferrari, and if this happens on the back of Newey moving on, then that could be decisive for Verstappen. It’s also worth keeping an eye on the future of Helmut Marko – it’s essential that he stays put in this context.
Who is Pierre Wache?
49-year-old Wache initially joined Formula 1 with tyre suppliers Michelin before taking up an engineering role at BMW-Sauber. He would join Red Bull in 2018, where he’s worked his way up to the role of technical director.
Christian Horner regards Wache as a key contributor to his team’s recent dominance. Speaking to Autosport last year, he raved about the ‘wonderful’ job he’d done along with his technical team.
The problem for Red Bull is that their rivals rate him highly as well. Some in the F1 paddock expect him to follow Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari, while Mercedes are showing interest too.
You wonder if the team that misses out on the big name in Newey will turn their attention to Wache as a plan-b. Or could we see a competitor replicate the devastating double act?
If Verstappen wanted stability at Red Bull, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get it. Perhaps the key question is to what extent that filters down to the track as time goes on, with the RB20 still a long way ahead of its challengers.
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