Out-going Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey has explained how he is “relatively oblivious” to the noise around his future, with the wait to find out what the legendary Formula 1 designer will do next rumbling on.
Ever since it was announced that Newey is to leave Red Bull early next year, media have speculated about what the 65-year-old Briton will do next – from switching to a rival team to entering a well-earned retirement.
Asked during an appearance on Red Bull’s Talking Bull podcast how it’s felt to see his name mentioned across the media so much in recent months, Newey revealed that a situation from his early days in F1 shaped the way he deals with press attention.
“That bit is very easy, because I don’t really read social media or I don’t particularly read magazines – that’s kind of something I stopped doing a long time ago,” he said.
“Back in my Leyton House days, the first car I did was in 1988 – showing my age, obviously! That was a good little car. Then in ’89 we completely messed it up, so I went from being this new hero in the F1 paddock on the engineering side to the idiot who was a one-hit wonder.