Adrian Newey hinted infighting at Red Bull was indeed a contributing factor to his decision to leave the team.
The 65-year-old shocked the Formula 1 world this week with official confirmation that he is leaving the team he has served since 2006. It comes after months of unrest behind the scenes at Red Bull with team principal Christian Horner in the thick of it.
In Miami on Friday, Horner had insisted that Newey's decision to leave was "absolutely not" because of the infighting. "This has been coming for some time," the 50-year-old asserted.
"There was discussion pretty much 12 months ago that it might have been the time for Adrian to look at stepping back, so I know it's been on his mind for some time. It's something we've had to plan for."
However, Newey appeared to suggest it did play a part as he spoke to Martin Brundle about his plans. Asked if he had been thinking about leaving for a while, the designer said: "If I'm honest, kind of. I guess over the winter, a little bit, and then events have unfolded [within Red Bull].
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"This year, I'm in a very lucky position where I don't need to work to live. I work because I enjoy it. And as I say, I just felt that now is a good time to to step back and take a bit of a break and take stock of life and go travelling a bit."
Newey also hinted that the tight title fight between Red Bull and Mercedes, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, had also taken its toll. He said: "Formula 1 is all-consuming. I've been at it for a long time now.
"2021 was a really busy year because of the tight battle with Mercedes through the championship and at the same time putting all the research and development into the [RB]18, which was the father of this generation of cars. Then, I don't know, there comes a point where, as Forrest Gump said, I'm feeling a little bit tired."
Newey has been heavily linked with Ferrari already, while James Vowles has admitted he has already spoken to the veteran about returning to his old Williams team. But, although he doesn't plan on taking on a new project any time soon, he admits there may come a time when he realises he misses F1 and wants to get back in the game.
He continued: "Maybe at some point, I don't know when, I'll be standing in the shower and will go, 'Right, now this is going to be the next adventure'. But right now there's no plan... I do enjoy regulation changes, for sure."
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