Ferrari’s $27 Million offer that Adrian Newey refused for Red Bull

Adrian Newey is one of the most respected figures in F1 today and is currently the Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull Racing. 

Newey is regarded as one of the greatest F1 engineers of all time. He has enjoyed immense success in his long career and has overseen 186 Grand Prix wins as of last Sunday.

Since 2006 he has been with Red Bull Racing and has been part of the team’s journey to the top of Formula 1. In the initial stages, Red Bull was not the top team. However, they reached the summit with his expertise in the aerodynamics of an F1 car and Red Bull’s long-term ambition.

Between 2010 and 2013, they won four consecutive Constructors Championship Titles. After going through a rough patch with the onset of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014, they once again climbed their way up when Max Verstappen became the team’s first Drivers’ Champion in 2021 since Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

This season, Red Bull has the most dominant car on the grid. They have coped very well with the regulation changes this campaign and a lot of credit has been given to Newey for the way he has designed the RB18.

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Adrian Newey almost left Red Bull to join Ferrari

Today, Newey is a Red Bull chief. Back in the day, however, he wasn’t particularly happy with the ambition shown by the Austrian team. Red Bull was only interested in marketing its brand by being in F1 and had no desire to be competitive.

It was then that the Brit considered switching teams, and Ferrari was one which he seriously considered. In 2014, the Prancing Horses gave him a lucrative offer of $27 million, almost double his salary at Red Bull.

Moreover, former Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemolo invited him to a Tuscan farmhouse where he essentially offered Newey whatever he wanted. Newey also revealed that he was offered to head both Ferrari’s road and race cars.

Ultimately, he opted against moving to Maranello simply because he was very happy at Milton Keynes.

“Back then I was pretty disillusioned with the whole thing,” the 63-year-old said in a recent interview with The Race. “Obviously I nearly joined Ferrari. But didn’t. It was kind of [part of it]… but more than anything, although I felt happy at Red Bull and didn’t really want to move teams.”

“The only thing that had pushed me towards even thinking about moving teams was that we were stuck with an uncompetitive engine. We had a supplier that seemed more interested in the marketing angle that came from being in Formula 1 than actually being competitive.”

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