Despite the seismic news last month of Adrian Newey's departure from Red Bull, the team’s technical director Pierre Wache says his design squad in Milton Keynes remains “massively focused” on its current work and upcoming challenges.
Newey, widely regarded as the greatest designer in the history of Formula 1, will bid adieu to Red Bull in early 2025 after a remarkable tenure spanning two decades that helped deliver 13 Driver and Constructor world titles.
It has been suggested that the 65-year-old’s departure will leave a significant creative void in Red Bull’s engineering department, especially with F1’s significant regulation changes coming in 2026.
However, Newey himself has often emphasized that an F1 team is no one-man band but rather a co-operative of talents committed to a deeply holistic effort to be the best in motorsport.
In this regard, Wache and his team of engineers, including aerodynamic chief Enrico Balbo and chief designer Craig Skinner, have played every bit as important a role in the development of Red Bull’s dominant cars since 2022.
And the Frenchman insists that little will change in the future in terms of tackling ongoing developments and future projects.
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“I think the technical team is massively focused on the car and on the performance,” Wache said recently, quoted by Formula1.com.
“For the current year and next year’s development, we have three cars to work on, [also with] 2026 that is a big change.
“As a person, people like [Newey], and he’s leaving… but we are focused on our side, to be fair.”
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While the 2024 and 2025 seasons are still in play, Formula 1 teams are already looking ahead to the sport’s 2026 regulation overhaul.
The future rulebook aims to make F1 cars more sustainable and exciting.
A key aspect will be power units with a much larger electric component, capable of generating significantly more power. Additionally, the cars will be required to run on 100% sustainable fuels.
Red Bull has forged an alliance with American automotive titans Ford. Together, they are embarking on the development of a cutting-edge power unit set to propel both the senior Red Bull team and their sister RB operation into the future.
As far as the rules governing chassis design and aerodynamics are concerned, the FIA has yet to finalize the fine print of these regulations. But Wache’s team is already preparing itself for the significant wholesale changes.
©RedBull
“I think we are looking forward, because the more you think about it, the more you can anticipate some issues,” he said, when asked about his department’s next big challenge.
“We will be able to work on the aero side only in the beginning of next year, then we are preparing ourselves. The engine is a big challenge also for us, and it’s looking promising.
“For sure, we work on it, and the main challenge is how to balance the resource between all these [current and future] projects.”
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