Horner refutes Hill's speculation on Newey departure

Red Bull principal Christian Horner has emphatically denied rumours that the team's chief technology officer Adrian Newey could be set to leave the team and potentially head to one of their major rivals.

Newey is one of the most famous and successful of the 'back room boys' working in world motorsport. He originally came to prominence working at Williams during their heyday in the 1990s.

But it's been his time at Red Bull since 2006 that has seen him emerge as F1's foremost technical talent of his generation behind a string of championship-winning cars.

• Read also: 'Newey is fundamental factor in winning or losing' - Jean Alesi

While he's taken a step back on occasion to spend time on other interests and projects for Red Bull, he's been a fixture on pit lane again in recent seasons as he contributed to the team's return to the top after a fallow period.

His knowledge and experience of working with ground effect aerodynamics is widely credited for making last year's RB18 such a success, as he knew how to work around the problems of 'porpoising' that afflicted their rivals.

It goes without saying that if Newey were to leave Milton Keynes, the team would be hard pressed to find anyone close to approaching the same calibre to replace him. But Horner insists that won't happen.

“We don’t talk about contracts or longevity of contracts but he’ll be here for many years to come," Horner told Sky Sports F1 this week. “His heart is still very much in Formula 1.

“He’s such an important part of our team and popular part of our team," Horner insisted, adding that Newey's commitment to the team remained as strong as ever. "There's always going to be rumours in this paddock, that's Formula 1."

The latest rumours about Newey surfaced as a result of comments that 1996 world champion Damon Hill made to the latest edition of the F1 Nation podcast hosted by Tom Clarkson who suggested Newey's contract was "up for renewal" and "being discussed within the corridors of power".

“I can’t help ignoring this thing he did in Bahrain," said Hill, who worked with Newey at Williams. "He stood in front of the Mercedes on the grid, with his clipboard, and stood there for a long time looking at their front wings.

“Anybody who knows Adrian will know ‘wait a minute, he’s already got the most dominant car in F1, why’s he looking at the Mercedes’ front wings?’", Hill speculated.

“Was he really looking at the front wings? Or was he just standing in front of a Mercedes saying: ‘I’m interested’. Is that what he was really saying?

"Adrian Newey is by a long chalk one of the most successful, if not the most successful, car designer in Formula 1 history," Hill added.

"His success rate is unbelievable, every team he's been to virtually he's won a constructors' championship, drivers' titles, I've lost count how many. So he's a key man, and what he has to offer any team is invaluable."

Mercedes could certainly do with an injection of technical expertise, after eight straight constructors championships saw them suffer a 'brain drain' in which many of their key talents were lured away to other teams.

Strategy chief James Vowles recently left to become team principal at Williams Racing, while chief technical officer James Allison is spending much of his time working on the INEOS Team UK America's Cup sailing project.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said recently of Allison that "He's not involved" in the current F1 campaign, adding: "He plays an active role when long-term team strategies are discussed."

In the meantime, Newey's latest contender the RB19 is without question the class of the field in 2023, with Hill admitting there was no chance they will be caught by their rivals this season.

"In the short term probably not. But in the long term it's going to be very interesting to see how these differentials in cost caps can have an affect and in aero time and all the limitations they put.

"We're hoping that Red Bull will reach a glass ceiling, and they won't be able to squeeze any more time out of this car," he said. "But knowing Red Bull and Adrian Newey and all their clever people they've got at Red Bull, they've probably got some next magic trick up their sleeve."

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