Surely it’s a strange decision to negotiate no gardening leave with RB if he was just going to retire anyway?
Given Lewis’, Charles’, and Fred’s reactions when asked about Newey, too, seems to indicate there’s at least something there?
Maybe Newey isn’t going to Ferrari after all (though it does seem odd, like I say)? Or maybe he doesn’t want to confirm it while he’s still working on RB’s hypercar project because making a RB hypercar while being confirmed for Ferrari is awkward for both Ferrari and for RB?
Surely it’s a strange decision to negotiate no gardening leave with RB if he was just going to retire anyway?
Maybe it was a just in case measure. So that he can say yes if the right opportunity arrives. Either way he is in a weird spot when it comes to designing a 2026 car. By the time he leaves Red Bull in 2025, the teams will have already laid down the fundamental design of their 2026 car, so he wouldn’t be able to design it from the ground up. And in the era of the cost cap, the cars of the following years will likely be evolutions of the 2026 car rather than Newey’s own design. We saw how long it took Mercedes to get away from their zero sidepod design and it’s probably still hurting them.
Surely it’s a strange decision to negotiate no gardening leave with RB if he was just going to retire anyway?
It’s not the first time he took a break and then continued, mo? Thought in the past he worked on some non-F1 car because the aero was too boring for him.
He can easily take a break for 9 months, then start with a different team. Seems pretty healthy to me.
