A former McLaren coordinator predicts Adrian Newey will move to Ferrari due to the Scuderia’s status as the biggest team in F1.
Newey has been linked with a possible move to Ferrari or Aston Martin since his departure from Red Bull was announced, but once he moves in the first quarter of 2025 he will be free to join another team after almost two decades with the Milton Keynes-based constructor.
Adrian Newey to Ferrari? ‘I have to do F1 work at Ferrari too’
The driver market was thrown into disarray before the start of the 2024 season when it was announced that Lewis Hamilton would replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in 2025, while Newey’s departure from Red Bull is likely to have a major impact in terms of the clamour for his contract.
The Scuderia and Aston Martin have been widely reported as the favourites to sign the sport’s most successful designer, but Newey and manager Eddie Jordan have remained tight-lipped on the matter all season.
But Joe Ramirez, Newey’s co-ordinator at McLaren when he designed Mika Hakkinen’s two title-winning cars, believes Ferrari would be the next step for him because of the prestige that comes with working for the Italian team.
Newey acknowledges that working from Maranello would be logistically difficult, as he is settled in the UK, but believes there are ways around it.
“I don’t think he will retire, I see him at Ferrari because what he did well in F1 has to be done at Ferrari as well,” Ramirez told Mundo Deportivo.
“Ferrari are the biggest team in F1 and if the opportunity arises why not do it? And it’s not about the money, because he already has more money than he can spend in a lifetime.”
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“He’s happy in England so if he had to go and live in Italy it might be difficult.”
“But now the rules have changed and you can work remotely and fly back and forth on a private jet two or three days a week. You can do that.”
“I have never spoken to him about this. I met him at the historic Monaco Grand Prix and spoke to him but he has nothing to say.”
“He plans to continue, but I don’t know where.”
“He’s a great guy and he really knows what it takes to make a race car go fast,” Ramirez added, “and he’s a very demanding guy, like Ayrton Senna. If he wants to do something, he goes about it.”
“But he’s also someone who will listen if you say, ‘Look, we can do this’ – not like John Barnard, the designer he was at McLaren.”
“Adrian always listens to what you have to say, and if it’s a good suggestion he takes it, and if it’s not good he doesn’t. But at least he listens to what you have to say.”
“He’s a good guy. He walks around the paddock by himself, pretty much anonymous, and he’s humble. He’s a genius.”
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