Adrian Newey Horner response at the Austin press conference
The Adrian Newey Horner response arrived on Friday at the United States Grand Prix, where Newey was asked about passages in Horner's newly published autobiography, Drive. Newey said he had not read the book and would not comment on most of it, but he did answer the central charge: that he wanted to leave Red Bull at the first sign of adversity in 2014.
Newey recast the episode as an engineering dispute rather than a question of loyalty. A chassis designer, he argued, can absorb a weak power unit for a season. A supplier with no visible plan to fix that power unit is a different problem entirely.
What Horner wrote about the Ferrari offer
Horner's book covers mid-2014, when Newey had an offer from Ferrari and was weighing whether to take it. Red Bull had just lost their hold on the title in the first year of the turbo-hybrid regulations, with Renault's power unit struggling under the new rules and compromising the performance of the Newey-designed car.
"I stood behind him and believed that he stood behind me as well. But at the first sign of adversity, Adrian wanted to abandon ship. I felt very sad about that."
Horner added that despite Newey's importance to the team, "I could no longer rely on him. Our partnership was not as solid as I had previously believed." The pair had worked together across 19 years, winning four straight titles with Sebastian Vettel from 2010 to 2013 and then again with Max Verstappen from 2021 to 2024.
Renault, Honda and the power unit problem
Newey's reply centred on the Renault supply deal, which carried over from the title years into the hybrid era and, in his account, did not improve. "If the PU manufacturer has a bad year and doesn't appear to have any intention of trying to address the problem, that's altogether a different matter and that's quite bleak at that point," he said.
"And as it turned out, that situation didn't really change with that supplier until we changed to Honda in 2019. So, you can imagine my pain and frustration at that. I don't think Christian fully understood that, perhaps. But I was in conversation."
Newey turned down Ferrari in 2014 and signed a new Red Bull contract, though he began dividing his time between Formula 1 and other company projects. He stayed a further decade before leaving in 2024 and joining Aston Martin, where he is managing technical partner.
On the personal side he was brief: "The rest of it I really can't comment, but Christian and I remain friends. As many of you know, I am godfather to his daughter Olivia."
Aston Martin parallels and the Austin weekend
While publicising the book, Horner drew a comparison between Newey's task of turning around a struggling Aston Martin and the early Red Bull years after the 2005 buyout of Jaguar. Newey agreed, citing repeated changes of ownership and senior management at both teams and the work of breaking down silos and improving culture.
Horner, speaking to Sky Sports News, praised the designer's record while keeping his distance from Aston Martin's project. "Adrian is without doubt the best designer that Formula 1 has ever seen," he said, adding that Lawrence Stroll has "invested heavily in that team" and that "they've got their own journey that they're on."
Newey has declined to engage with the book beyond the 2014 chapter, and both men describe the relationship as intact. The competitive question now sits with Aston Martin, where his technical authority is measured against a team still working through the same structural problems he describes from his first Red Bull spell.
Sky Sports F1's United States Grand Prix coverage continues with qualifying on Saturday at 10pm and the race on Sunday at 8pm.
This article is based on reporting by skysports.com.
