Last 3 times Ferrari approached Adrian Newey and failed

Adrian Newey is one of the most talented aerodynamicists in motorsports. While he has worked in several motorsport series, his area of expertise is F1. He designed some of the most dominant F1 cars, which allowed several teams and drivers to dominate the sport for many years. However, he has never worked with Ferrari in any motorsport series.

In May 2024, Red Bull announced that Adrian Newey would be parting ways with the team after nearly two decades of collaboration. This sparked rumors and debates about him potentially moving to Ferrari. Though it is unconfirmed whether the Italian giants have approached Newey now, they have done so thrice in the past. The team was unsuccessful every time they tried to hire the aero wizard

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Three times Adrian Newey was approached by Ferrari

#1 1985

The first time the Italian giants tried to hire Adrian Newey was back in 1985 when the Brit had no major experience in F1. During that time, Newey was working as a designer for the March IndyCar project. The Maranello-based F1 team approached Newey for the first time when they were trying to enter the IndyCar series themselves and offered Newey a job as a chief designer on their IndyCar project.

Though they scrapped the project entirely, this was the first time Ferrari contacted Newey. The designer remained with March's IndyCar team until 1988, after which he returned to F1 with them.

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#2 1995

The second time Ferrari approached Newey was in 1995 when the Brit had been gradually rising in F1. After he joined the sport with the March team in 1988, his designs proved fascinating to many in the paddock. After joining Williams in 1990, his cars started winning championships.

In 1994, however, disaster struck with Ayrton Senna's tragic death at the San Marino GP. One of the reasons why Newey did not move to Ferrari was because of Senna's passing.

Ferrari team principal Jean Todt approached Adrian Newey in 1995 and revealed their plan to hire Michael Schumacher in the near future. However, since the Benetton team was accused of using illegal traction control in 1994, Newey was reluctant to work with Schumacher.

Another reason for Newey not joining the Italian giants was that he did not want a long-distance relationship after his second marriage.

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#3 2014

After the 1995 attempt, Ferrari stopped chasing Adrian Newey for a while when they enjoyed a dominant period from 1999 to 2004, winning six consecutive Constructors' Championships, while Schumacher clinched five drivers' titles. Fast forward to 2014, though, and Ferrari approached Newey once again.

By this time, Newey was considered one of the best car designers in F1. After Williams, he had moved to McLaren, where his cars helped the team and Mika Hakkinen to win the 1998 Constructors Championship and two drivers' titles, in 1998 and 1999. But in 2006, after a few years of struggling with the British team, Newey moved to the newly-made Red Bull.

He continued to use his talent to create dominant cars which allowed the Milton Keynes team to win championships from 2010 to 2013. So in 2014, when Red Bull's dominant era ended due to Renault's faulty engines, Ferrari chief executive Luca di Montezemolo tried to hire Adrian Newey. Montezemolo temped the Brit with a hefty paycheck and the entire road and race car operation. By that time, however, Newey already had a deep connection with Red Bull and decided to stay with the team - until now.