Former Red Bull F1 drivers share experiences of working with Newey

Adrian Newey will bring is near-two decade association with Red Bull to a close when he leaves the team in early 2025. Former drivers of the team Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have given their views on his surprise departure.

After guiding the Milton Keynes-based outfit to 13 F1 world titles, the chief technical officer will seek new pastures, with the 65-year-old being heavily linked to Ferrari - something Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton is keen to see happen.

Current Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez spoke ahead of the Miami Grand Prix about the situation being business as usual for the team in the wake of Newey's departure.

Several former Red Bull drivers were also asked for their input on the career of Newey - widely regarded as the greatest technical mind in F1 history.

"I can only speak about my relationship with Adrian, what I've been through," Albon began when asked by RacingNews365 for his thoughts on the surprise announcement, having raced for Red Bull from mid-2019 to 2020.

"He is a very nice person, I think everyone who knows him, he's very humble, very open-minded, I got on very well with him.

"I think it will be interesting to see his next move. I'm sure every team is chasing him down to try and get hold of him.

"But whatever he chooses, if it's retirement or racing, I wish him all the best, and obviously, our doors [at Williams] are always open as well.

'A unique genius'

That sentiment was echoed by Ricciardo, who said it was a "privilege" to drive Newey's creations - between 2014 and 2018, during which time he captured seven grand prix wins.

"Adrian has been at Red Bull for so long. It's very rare that something lasts forever," he responded when asked the same question by RacingNews365.

"Obviously we don't really know where he's going to go or what he's going to do. But his time there was amazing. It was a privilege to work with him, a privilege to drive several of his race cars.

"Even my dad, when I signed with Red Bull, he was like: 'Oh, you're gonna get to work with Adrian', like, that was exciting for him as well - so yeah, it's cool.

"We'll see what he does, but I wish him well and we'll see where he lands"

Meanwhile, Gasly was also in agreement with Albon, who replaced him at Red Bull, after he had himself taken over the seat vacated by Ricciardo when the Australian left for Renault in 2019.

"A unique genius - extremely talented," Gasly replied to media including RacingNews365 when asked for his memories of working with Newey.

"The most successful engineer in the history of our sport, very particular approach - I still remember going to Milton Keynes and him drawing all sorts of stuff on this board and I thought: 'is that how we draw F1 cars these days?'

"It's just impressive and probably like my best memory from Red Bull, working with such a special individual."

'I hope he doesn't ask me too many questions'

Ricciardo also offered a more light-hearted view of Newey's office, speaking to the "intimidating" nature of it.

"Walking into his office is kind of intimidating because there's a big design board," he mused.

"[You think] he's probably going to ask me things that I have no idea what he's talking about, and you are like: 'I hope he doesn't ask me too many questions, let's just keep this fairly basic, for my own good."