Red Bull have confirmed their design chief Adrian Newey will leave the team in early 2025.
Newey, regarded as the greatest designer in the history of Formula 1, told Red Bull last week he wanted to leave in the wake of the controversy involving allegations about team principal Christian Horner.
The 65-year-old’s next team has not been decided but Ferrari are hot favourites to sign him.
Horner said Newey leaves Red Bull “a true legend” and credits him for “all of our greatest moments from the past 20 years”.
“His exceptional ability to conceptualise beyond F1, his remarkable talent for embracing change and finding the most rewarding areas of the rules to focus on, and his relentless will to win have helped Red Bull become a greater force than even the late Dietrich Mateschitz might have imagined,” Horner said.
Sources close to the situation have told BBC Sport there will be time for Newey to have a major impact on the gestation of a 2026 car design for whichever team he decides to join.
Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport reported on Wednesday that Newey had met Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur in London to discuss a potential deal.
Asked for a comment by BBC Sport, Vasseur said: “I have nothing to say.”
Newey has been at Red Bull since 2005 and has overseen two dominant eras with the team – from 2010-14 when they won four consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ titles with Sebastian Vettel, and the current era with Max Verstappen.
Last year, Verstappen and Red Bull produced the most dominant season in F1 history, the Dutchman winning 19 of the 22 races and the team all but one.
They look on course for a similar performance after winning four of the first five races this season.
Newey previously had multiple championship-winning success at both Williams and McLaren.