Horner will attend a meeting today that will be instrumental in his ongoing position within the all-conquering F1 team he has led since 2005.
It has been reported that Newey has reaffirmed his commitment to the Milton Keynes operation regardless of the outcome of the current proceedings against the team boss.
Newey was one of Horner’s key appointments, the design guru having been poached from McLaren in early 2006.
The pair have worked closely together since, amassing seven drivers’ championships and six constructors’ crowns for Red Bull Racing.
Previously, Newey worked for March (where he was sacked) before successful stints with Williams and McLaren, winning a combined 12 additional titles between 1992 and 1999.
It marks the 65-year-old as the most successful designer in Formula 1 history.
Secure your spot today.
During his career, he has been linked with a move to Ferrari on three occasions.
The first was while working in IndyCar in the United States before another during the early 1990s.
Most recently, there was an attempt to lure Newey to Maranello in 2014.
“We went from winning ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, four on the bounce, and then a massive regulation change to the engine and our engine supplier completely missed the target,” Horner told the Eff Won podcast last year.
“And at that point, Vettel leaves because of the engine, Adrian came very close to leaving, he was within about half an hour signing [for Ferrari].
“Ferrari came hard for him,” he added.
“They promised him the world. You can have a Hollywood lifestyle, fly into the factory from Monaco every day and you won’t pay any tax and you can design a road car and this, that and the other.
“I managed to persuade him to stay by saying: ‘We’ll do a road car. If you want to do a road car, we’ll do a road car.”
Newey has since penned the Aston Martin Valkyrie, leveraging the relationship the F1 team had with Aston Martin at the time.
Still, Newey has admitted that the concept of working for Ferrari is an appealing one.
“Emotionally, to a point, yes,” Newey told Tom Clarkson on the Beyond the Grid podcast last September.
“Just as working with Fernando or Lewis would’ve been fabulous, it’s just circumstances sometimes, that’s the way it is.”
With the latter’s move to Ferrari next season, and the apparent turmoil surrounding Horner’s future at Red Bull Racing, some saw it as an opportunity for Newey to make the move.
News of Horner’s plight emerged from F1-insider and De Telegraaf on Monday.
The former now claims that “Newey has already told Red Bull that he will remain loyal to the world champion team even without Horner.”
Newey is chief technical officer at Red Bull Racing, with a claimed salary of USD$10 million.
Horner is set to attend a meeting regarding allegations of inappropriate behaviour today, with the outcome not expected to be known until next week.
Discussion about this post