Adrian Newey‘s reign in Formula 1 began in 1988. Since then, the British engineering guru has gone onto win 25 F1 world championships for the likes of McLaren, Williams and now, Red Bull. His success in F1 has also helped him amass a net-worth of $50 million. However, when prodded about his dreams and aspirations after life in F1, he revealed his go to destination that would engage his design bug and also pay for his luxurious lifestyle.
While on the Formula for Success podcast, ex-Red Bull driver, David Coulthard asked Newey what he would like to do after F1. Newey replied, “America’s Cup, sailing, you know, outside of motorsport in the biggest sense of the word, so including MotoGP. [It’s also about] the big bucks, engineering, competition, battle between man and machine and the answer is obviously the America’s Cup.”
It’s seldom that a team personnel, other than the drivers and the team principal, earn big money contracts. However, Adrian Newey is exception to that rule. Because of his technical prowess, the Briton earns a whopping $10 million pay package from Red Bull annually.
The sport of sailing is really congruent in many aspects to the sport of Formula 1. In terms of design and engineering complexity, sailing really stands toe-to-toe with the pinnacle of motorsport. Hence, Newey won’t be the first F1 insider to switch sports in favor of sailing.
Mercedes v Red Bull could be the hottest new rivalry at the America’s Cup
While Newey hopes to establish himself in the domain of sailing one day, Mercedes’ top dog, James Allison has already tried his hands at the America’s Cup with Silver Arrows’ sponsor INEOS’ team christened ‘INEOS Britannia‘. After Mike Elliot took the reigns over at Brackley, Allison shifted departments. However, he rejoined Mercedes’ F1 team in the beginning of 2023.
Newey’s dream transition into the America’s Cup can actually be a realistic profile change. While contracted to Red Bull, Newey is aware that the Bulls also have a team for the prestigious sailing championship. Hence, Newey in his later avatar, could be heading the design team over at Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
Adrian Newey and Red Bull will team up with Ben Ainslie to tackle sailing’s prestigious America’s Cup in 2017 http://t.co/sa4KkVjI7s #f1
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) December 4, 2014
That being said, the way that the Milton Keynes team has been performing lately, Newey would be eager to add more trophies to his cabinet. Hence, in the near future, the 64-year-old would not be lured away from the sport. But in the long-term, Newey has declared where he wants to be.