Ford refutes rumors of breaking ties with Red Bull amid Adrian Newey's departure

Since the official announcement of Adrian Newey’s departure from Red Bull Racing, there has been a lot of speculation about the impact of this decision. Newey was set to leave his 19-year-old franchise which came as a shock to many. It also triggered that Ford which has signed with Red Bull to develop its engines will also leave them. 

However, amid the ongoing rumors Ford Performance Motorsports director Mark Rushbrook refused all these rumors. "We have huge respect for Adrian Newey in terms of his career and all the things that he has done for many different teams in F1, especially the last 19 years at Red Bull," Rushbrook told Motorsport.com.

"Nothing but admiration and respect for him and we wish him the best for whatever he will do in the future. Our focus though fully remains on the power unit programme for 2026. That's unchanged after this news and that is still going ahead full throttle”, he further added. 

Rushbrook speaks about the succession plan

Rushbrook further noted that it was customary for both Red Bull and Ford to have succession plans in place. Given that Newey's Red Bull contract was scheduled to conclude in 2025, his presence beyond 2026 was never assured.

He said, "Continuity was in the very first discussions that I had with [team principal] Christian Horner. So, my question to him was: 'How is Red Bull going to continue to be successful in 2026 with all-new regulations?'

"Like any good company or any good racing team, you always have a succession plan, and you are always training and developing people within the organisation. That is no different in this case. I am not being disrespectful to Adrian at all because he is fantastic, but every team has a succession plan. To do anything great in motorsport, we as Ford find the best teams to partner with. We believe that we have found the best team in Formula 1," he added.