Miami Grand Prix: Red Bull technical director might be leaving but superstar Verstappen has no such plans
MIAMI GARDENS — Formula One has arrived in South Florida for a full weekend of high-speed action capped with Sunday’s CRYPTO.com Miami Grand Prix (3:55 p.m. ET, ABC), but one of the storylines creating the biggest buzz in the Miami International Autodrome at Hard Rock Stadium has nothing to do specifically with Sunday’s event.
Unquestionably the topic du jour for the sport was Wednesday’s announcement by longtime Oracle Red Bull Racing technical director Adrian Newey that he would be leaving the reigning world championship team in the first quarter of 2025. He’s been with the Red Bull team since 2006, and during his entire decorated career has won 13 drivers titles and 12 constructors titles with three different teams — Williams Racing, McLaren and Red Bull.
News of Newey’s departure was Topic No. 1 in the paddock on Thursday as the field of drivers spoke with journalists for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago.
It has been rumored that Newey, 65, may well follow seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton to the Scuderia Ferrari HP team next year, but Hamilton, who drives for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team, would only offer a grin when asked how much he would like to see Newey join him at Ferrari in 2025.
“Very much," Hamilton said.
Three-time reigning world champion and current F1 championship leader Max Verstappen finds himself on the other side of the situation — he and Newey mutually benefiting from their work at Red Bull. Verstappen has 58 wins in his 10-year F1 career with Red Bull — including 48 since 2021 when he won the first of his three straight titles. He leads the series with victories in four of the five 2024 races.
“Of course, I cannot deny that I would have preferred him to stay, just for how he is as a person, his knowledge and of course what he would bring to potentially another team if he wants to join," said Verstappen, the two-time defending Miami Grand Prix winner. “Besides that, I trust that the people that we have, they are incredibly good at what they do.
“I don’t need to convince anyone [to stay] because at the end of the day, if someone really wants to leave, they should leave. That’s also what I wrote to him. I mean, we talk, it’s not like suddenly you don’t talk anymore. If you think that is the right decision for yourself, your family or you seek a different challenge, you have to do it. At the end of the day, F1 is a shark tank and everyone thinks about themselves. I know that. I’m not stupid and that’s fine."
With Newey’s departure news, speculation was rampant that Verstappen may want to leave the Red Bull team, too. There have been published reports that the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team was preparing an offer well in excess of $100 million for Verstappen.
But both Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Verstappen denied the report this week.
“My future is within Red Bull at the moment,” said Verstappen, whose current contract with the team goes through the 2029 season — shaking his head “no” about the validity of the reported offer.
“At the end of the day, even if, let’s say that would to be the case, money is not gonna to be the differentiator for me to go somewhere," Verstappen said.
“I’m happy with what I’m earning already. It’s about performance. Because I know myself that if I was driving for P5 or P6 [fifth or sixth place finish] you get quite grumpy with yourself so it’s always about performance at the end of the day. And everyone knows that. Toto also knows that."
“I think everyone should always be optimistic and hopeful in things, but at the moment I can say, I want to stay with the team because I believe in the project that we have with everyone involved," he added. “At the end of the day, in sports but also in life, you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.
“This is all something I’m not really thinking about too much at the moment. There’s so much going on this year with the performance and I want to do well. Next year as well when I still think we have a great chance at doing well, so ‘26 in that sense, is quite far away."
Miami Grand Prix
Where: Miami International Autodrome around Hard Rock Stadium
When: Events all weekend; race starts at 3:55 Sunday.
Tickets (for all three days): Campus Pass (general admission ticket with no assigned seat) is $450. Grandstand tickets start at $600. Premium tickets (club, suites, luxury boxes) also available via race website, https://f1miamigp.com/tickets/
Schedule: Friday — includes practice and sprint qualifying (4:25 p.m., ESPN2). Saturday — includes F1 sprint race, F1 qualifying, F1 academy and Porsche Carrera Cup North America races (3:55 p.m., ESPN). Sunday — Includes F1 academy and Porsche Carrera Cup North America races, Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix (3:55 p.m., ABC).
For information: Visit https://f1miamigp.com, call 305-943-RACE (7223) or 305-843-8000 or email guestexperience@hardrockstadium.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Grand Prix champ Verstappen not leaving Red Bull team
