Hamilton has raced against Newey cars for his entire career and has faced two periods of domination by Red Bull – from 2010-13 and since 2022. They sandwich the Mercedes era in which Hamilton broke records to become the most successful F1 driver in history.
“Racing against a team he has been so heavily a part of over the years has been a massive challenge,” Hamilton said. “But we have to remember there is a lot of people in the background – it is not one person, it is a whole team of people who do the job.
“Of all the amazing experience he brings, the people he works with will continue to do an amazing job. I don’t anticipate Red Bull not continuing to build great cars moving forwards. But any team would be fortunate to have the opportunity to work with him.”
Charles Leclerc, who will be Hamilton’s team-mate at Ferrari and has been with the Italian team since 2019, said he would be “very happy” if Newey joined.
“Adrian is one of those guys in the paddock that you hope to be working with one day in your career, we have an incredible team in Ferrari at the moment,” said the Monegasque driver.
“In the last seven to eight months, we are the team that has progressed the most. However, adding Adrian to a team like this would be amazing.”
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez said Newey’s departure was “not ideal” but emphasised that the team had a “strong organisation” and had been focusing on preparing for the future.
