Frederic Vasseur’s London Trip Strengthens Adrian Newey Links; Ferrari to Announce Deal Soon

Although F1 will take place in Miami this weekend, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has interestingly chosen not to travel with his side to the American city. Instead, he reportedly flew to London to meet Adrian Newey in person. Since it has only been a few hours since Red Bull confirmed that they will part ways with Newey in 2025, Vasseur’s meeting with the 65-year-old only strengthens Ferrari’s ties with the British aerodynamicist.

According to the Italian publication Gazzetta, “Yesterday Fred Vasseur, the team principal of Ferrari, did not travel with the team to Miami, where they will compete on Sunday. He instead flew to London. Reason? Meeting Newey himself in the evening, perhaps to conclude the agreement that has been whispered about for some time, which will bring the English genius to Maranello from next season“.

I genuinely did not know that Eddie Jordan was Adrian’s manager until the announcement was made today. So, these comments could hold water https://t.co/wjPtcxm8b5

— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) May 1, 2024

The report adds that Ferrari will most likely announce the signing after the conclusion of the Miami GP. Since Newey will not have to serve any kind of gardening leave, he will be able to work on Ferrari’s 2026 car as soon as he joins Maranello, the report adds.

Adrian Newey’s lawyers successfully negotiate with Red Bull over his gardening leave

Although most of the reports in the previous few days had correctly claimed that Adrian Newey would leave Red Bull, they provided differing information when it came to the topic of gardening leave. Teams usually add a period of gardening leave to most of their top engineer’s contracts to prevent them from carrying over sensitive information to another side.

Since Newey is arguably the most successful aerodynamicist of all time, it will come as no surprise that Red Bull would have added a gardening leave period on his contract as well. However, as per reports, Newey’s lawyers have successfully negotiated with Red Bull and the Briton will be able to serve his gardening leave immediately.

The Team announces that Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey will leave the Red Bull Technology Group in the first quarter of 2025.

The engineering supremo will step back from Formula 1
design duties to focus on final development and delivery of Red Bull’s first hypercar, the… pic.twitter.com/FSSHqzieip

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 1, 2024

This means he will be free to join another side after the first quarter of 2025. Red Bull also confirmed via their statement that the only requirement Newey will have before he leaves the side is to complete their hypercar project.