Adrian Newey, the renowned Formula 1 designer, may soon find himself focusing a lot more on non-F1 projects at Red Bull Racing, as per a report by Auto Motor und Sport’s Michael Schmidt. This strategic shift is being considered as a way for Red Bull to optimize its resources in light of the F1 budget cap.
Schmidt notes that larger teams, with employee counts ranging from 800 to 1000, are reluctant to lose top talent to competitors. As a workaround, they’re reassigning high-earning employees to projects outside of F1. Currently, the salaries of a team’s top three earners are exempt from the budget cap. Moving Newey to a non-F1 project could thus free up significant budget space for other key specialists within the team.
Red Bull has recently seen a number of its personnel being poached by rival teams. Schmidt speculates that Newey might soon dedicate his expertise solely to Red Bull’s RB17 hypercar project in the medium term. This move would align with the team’s strategy to navigate the financial constraints imposed by the budget cap.
Dr. Helmut Marko of Red Bull has refuted claims that the RB17 hypercar project is merely a tactic to circumvent the spending cap. Addressing suggestions that the hypercar’s development could indirectly benefit Red Bull’s F1 car, Marko labeled such interpretations as complete nonsense. “Our opponents are interpreting it in such a way that the floor of the RB17 provides information for the Formula 1 car, which is of course complete nonsense.”
