Red Bull engineer who could be issued with ‘ban’ has same net worth as Christian Horner.
Red Bull technical guru Adrian Newey has the same net worth as team principal Christian Horner after nearly two decades of hard work behind the scenes. Newey is arguably the greatest technical mastermind in F1 history and has been designing Red Bull’s cars since joining the team in 2005.
The 65-year-old has played an influential role in shaping Red Bull’s recent dominance after nailing the widespread regulation changes that were introduced in 2022. He has also been juggling his F1 commitments with other exciting ventures, having assisted Aston Martin in designing their Valkyrie road car.
Newey has built up quite the personal fortune over the years, with his net worth estimated at around £39.6million per GPFans. It rivals that of Red Bull team boss Horner, who is said by CelebrityNetWorth to be valued at just under £40m.
The financial details of Newey’s contract are not publicly known, but it is clear that he is not short of money as the most successful designer in F1 history. According to The Guardian, Red Bull were willing to pay Newey around £7.9m per season after poaching him from McLaren nearly 20 years ago.
However, it has been reported that Red Bull’s cost-cutting measures could see Newey banned from their F1 setup in the not-too-distant future. According to Auto Motor und Sport, their current plan is to transfer Newey to work entirely on the RB17 hypercar project, getting his salary off their books and freeing up space in their budget.
The current rules state that salaries of team members must be fully accounted for if they play any role at all in the sport. If Newey were to be transferred over to the RB17 project on a full-time basis, he would effectively be banned from working on the team’s F1 machines.
Meanwhile, it has also been claimed that Newey could step back from Red Bull entirely if Horner is relieved of his duties following allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ against him. The 50-year-old is currently being investigated over the claims after a complaint was made by a female Red Bull employee to the team’s parent company in Austria.
Newey’s working relationship with Horner has been incredibly successful over the years but former Williams team manager Peter Windsor believes it could come to an end if the Red Bull team principal is sacked.
Speaking in a YouTube video, Windsor said: “I think it’s an interesting point to discuss and think about what would happen at Red Bull if Christian, and that’s a huge if, lost his job and he was fired. I think a lot of European press are saying, well, then the management goes back to Red Bull.
“I wonder then about the future of the team. I certainly wonder about Adrian Newey and what he would do. He’s probably of an age where he would really retire. I think he would see it as finally the end of that era when he had Christian as the buffer and the really easy to get on with guy.
“They are on the same wavelength. If Christian departs, it’ll obviously be bad for Christian, but I think the bigger effect will be what effect it has on Adrian’s future.”