Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Adrian Newey is now splitting his time “50:50” between working on F1 and on other projects.

It was announced in 2014 that Newey would be moving in to a different role at Red Bull, signing a new contract that allowed him to focus on other Red Bull projects alongside F1. With the RB11 set to be the team’s first car since that change, Horner says Newey’s influence can still be seen in the 2015 design despite the reduced involvement.

“Adrian’s had a bit less input but he’s still been very much the architect of this car,” Horner said. “He’ll be at the tests. He’s splitting his time effectively now around 50:50, but 50% of Adrian’s time is quite significant. So he’s certainly been paying a lot of attention to what’s been going on, on the engine as well.”

Referencing the power unit, Horner believes a key part of Red Bull’s partnership with Renault will be the timing of any updates this season.

“This year strategically you can upgrade during the year on your different power units. For sure Renault are taking an aggressive development approach to this year and strategically we just need to decide when you use those tokens in the four engines that you have available to you.”

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Bortoleto fires back at drivers criticising new-era F1 cars

Gabriel Bortoleto has delivered a pointed defence of Formula 1’s much debated 2026 regulations, arguing…

2 hours ago

120+ Grand Prix cars unite at Brooklands, where it all began

A century after the first British Grand Prix roared into life, Brooklands briefly became a…

3 hours ago

Gachot delivers to Jordan its first Formula 1 landmark

Bertrand Gachot is the energetic driving force behind the HYPE energy drink company, but he's…

4 hours ago

Hawkins predicts a woman will race in F1 ‘within a few years’

Jessica Hawkins has heard the argument before: Formula 1 is simply too physically demanding for…

5 hours ago

Domenicali drops major Verstappen hint while discussing 2027 rules

Stefano Domenicali has opened a fascinating window into the sport’s future by revealing that Max…

6 hours ago

Mercedes explains why it won’t talk about the championship

Mercedes head into Formula 1’s summer restart with a championship lead, a teenage title contender,…

8 hours ago