David Coulthard has described Adrian Newey’s visit to the Aston Martin factory while still under contract with Red Bull as disrespectful to the team.
Newey announced earlier this month that he will join Aston Martin in 2025 and held a press conference with Lawrence Stroll. Although Newey had severed his ties with Red Bull’s F1 car in May, the design legend continued to be involved with Red Bull’s RB17 hypercar project and races.
Former Red Bull driver David Coulthard claimed that Newey’s presence at Aston Martin’s factory while still under contract with Red Bull was disrespectful.
“It’s not unusual for people, especially drivers, to make announcements about moving to another team,” Coulthard said. “We experienced this with Carlos, who was moving to Williams and made a small press announcement about it.”
“What is unusual, however, is someone still under contract being present at a factory.”
“Adrian’s press conference with Aston and his presence at the factory while still under contract with Red Bull felt like a disrespect to Red Bull to me.”
However, Eddie Jordan disagreed with Coulthard, emphasizing that Newey and Red Bull have adhered to their agreement at every step and that Newey is currently on mandatory leave. Jordan said, “I have a few things to say about this.”
“Firstly, everything was kept under wraps until the team that Adrian Newey would be leaving Red Bull for officially announced it. The fact that an agreement had been reached was kept secret.”
“You didn’t hear a single word until September 6, and that was the date given by Red Bull about when they would or wouldn’t say something.”
“That’s why I admire Adrian, because he didn’t say a word until that date. He did everything he could to respect that and was quite meticulous about it.”
“He is currently on mandatory leave, and that’s a completely different thing; you’re confusing drivers and team members.”
