Christian Horner has finally revealed the behind-the-scenes story of how Red Bull managed to keep Adrian Newey from jumping ship to Ferrari back in 2014. After dominating F1 with four consecutive championships between 2010 and 2013 thanks to Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull hit a wall when Mercedes arrived as the dominant force in the turbo-hybrid era. Renault's power unit simply couldn't compete, and Newey was seriously eyeing an escape route to Maranello.

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Rather than let their design genius walk out the door, Horner and Red Bull made a creative move. They established the Advanced Technologies division that same year, which gave Newey the freedom to pursue passions beyond racing. This wasn't just about keeping him happy on the F1 side either. The team signed a partnership with Ben Ainslie Racing to work on elite-level sailing boats, allowing Newey to channel his design brilliance into America's Cup campaigns while simultaneously developing the legendary Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar.

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Horner explained to The Telegraph that Newey was genuinely frustrated at the time. As he put it, the designer was properly furious about the situation. Interestingly, Newey had always harbored ambitions in sailing even back at McLaren, so giving him that outlet while he couldn't win in F1 proved to be the perfect retention strategy. Ferrari were struggling themselves in 2014, finishing a winless season for the first time since 1993, which probably made the move less appealing anyway.

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The gambit worked brilliantly. Newey stayed put and was rewarded when Red Bull bounced back to win the championship in 2021 with Max Verstappen, then claimed four straight titles afterward. He'd eventually leave Red Bull in 2024 after nearly two decades, but by then he'd cemented his legacy as one of F1's greatest ever designers. His move to Aston Martin has put him in a similar boat now, with Honda's power unit holding back another potentially brilliant chassis.

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