Adrian Newey signs new long-term contract with Red Bull - MotorSportsTalk

Adrian Newey has signed a new long-term contract with Red Bull Racing, putting an end to speculation linking him with a move away from the team.

The 55-year-old is widely considered to be one of the greatest technical minds in the history of the sport, and much of Red Bull’s success over the past five years has been attributed to him. However, recent stories in the paddock have linked him with a big-money move to Ferrari, who identified him as the perfect person to revive the team’s fortunes after six years without a world title.

Despite Newey reinforcing his commitment to Red Bull a number of times, the rumors refused to dissipate, but now the team has put an end to the stories with this announcement.

“Red Bull is pleased to confirm that it has extended its successful relationship with Adrian Newey with a new multi-year agreement,” a statement from the team read.

“As part of this new agreement, Adrian will work on new Red Bull Technology projects, as well as advising and mentoring Infiniti Red Bull Racing as it develops its Formula 1 cars over the next few seasons. The details of the new projects will be announced in due course.”

With Newey working on these technology projects, it appears that his role may become more akin to that of an advisor at Red Bull, and perhaps less hands on than he currently is as Chief Technical Officer.

Since joining the team in 2006, he has masterminded its four drivers’ and constructors’ titles since 2010, and is highly sought after in the F1 paddock. The stories linking him with a move to Ferrari first emerged over the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, with the Italian team thought to be willing to offer him a huge wage increase in order to lure him to Maranello.

Ferrari has been in something of a rut in recent years, failing to win a world title since its constructors’ success in 2008. Former team principal Stefano Domenicali resigned back in April, and was replaced by Marco Mattiacci, the marque’s former North America CEO. It was thought that his plan for restructuring the team centered around Newey, but he too denied that an approach had been made.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”