"I didn’t want to make that same mistake again": Red Bull's Adrian Newey on why he never joined Ferrari

Red Bull aero wizard Adrian Newey revealed that one of the major reasons why he never joined Ferrari was because of what had happened in his first marriage. Newey was the leading aerodynamic expert in the 90s.

He had produced the highly advanced Williams challenger that helped Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost to win the titles. It was during this time that Ferrari approached the Red Bull aero wizard.

Newey revealed that when he was working with IndyCar in America, his first marriage failed because his wife could not acclimatize to the States. When Newey was approached by the Italian giant, it would have meant moving to Italy shortly after his second marriage. He did not want to risk it and hence turned down the offer.

In the latest Beyond the Grid podcast, Newey said,

“The ’93 one was very tempting. So I went down, Jean Todt had just started. I remember him talking about should we hire Michael or not? Do you think that was a good idea? The main reason I didn’t is my first marriage failed, for various reasons, but probably predominantly because I went off to IndyCar, so I was living in the States during the season."

He added,

"My relatively newlywed wife came out with me to start with, really didn’t like living in America and went back and that put a strain on our marriage that we never really recovered from, to be perfectly honest. So ’93, I was one year into my second marriage. I didn’t want to make that same mistake again.”

Red Bull's Adrian Newey was not interested in working remotely

Adrian Newey was questioned if there was ever a scenario where he pitched to Ferrari about working from the UK, but the Red Bull mastermind revealed that he wasn't interested in that approach. Notably, the Italian team had tried the technique with John Bernard with limited success but it was something that Newey was not interested in. Talking about working remotely, Newey said,

“I never asked the question. I don’t believe in it so I never asked. I think if you’re going to do it, Ferrari is an Italian team. The idea of having a Research and Design centre, which is [in a] completely different place to the race team, I know we have a sister team that does that, but I don’t believe in the concept.”

It's safe to say that even though Adrian Newey didn't move to Ferrari, the kind of success he's had at Red Bull and the legacy he's built is still unmatched.