Adrian Newey’s reported imminent departure from Red Bull is in the works and the Milton-Keynes-based outfit is planning to make his exit official in the coming days. Initially supposed to announce about the same on Wednesday 1 May, Red Bull decided to delay it by one day. This was out of respect for three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna.
On 1 May 1994, Senna tragically lost his life after a crash in Imola. This year marks the 30th anniversary of what was one of the darkest days in F1 history, which is why Red Bull and Newey are refraining from talking about things that can be put for later, per BBC.
Newey was present in the Williams garage the afternoon Senna died and announcing his move to Ferrari on the anniversary of the Brazilian’s death is something Red Bull finds wrong. Sources reveal that the Milton-Keynes-based outfit will officially announce Newey’s departure on Thursday, 2 May.
The move to delay the official announcement is one Newey would appreciate. Senna’s death affected Newey on a personal and professional level, as both he and ex-Williams boss Patrick Head were accused of involuntary manslaughter following the incident. Newey was cleared but to date, he feels guilty about Senna’s fatal crash.
Adrian Newey feels responsible for Ayrton Senna’s death
Senna’s death marked what was one of the most infamous race weekends in the sport’s existence. Newey had to deal with his demons following Senna’s crash, and an excerpt from his book ‘How to Build a Car’ reads,
“People ask me if I feel guilty about Ayrton. I do. I was one of the senior officers in a team that designed a car in which a great man was killed.”
The 65-year-old adds that even today, his voice breaks when he tries to talk about what happened on 1 May 1994. He recalls watching the footage of the crash several times after returning to the UK, and Williams came to the conclusion that the steering column had snapped, which led to the accident.
Newey, however, felt that he “screwed up” the aerodynamics of the car. Whatever the other reasons were that directly caused the crash, the Briton feels that controlling an unstable car would have been difficult, even for a driver of Senna’s caliber. For this, he added that he will always feel responsible for Senna’s death.
