Christian Horner hijacks live Sky Sports F1 interview to insult new rival
Adrian Newey quit his role as Red Bull's chief technical offer last year before joining Aston Martin, and he's made his first appearance in green ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix
Red Bull boss Christian Horner joked that former colleague Adrian Newey looked like a 'giant bogey' during his first outing in Aston Martin colours. Newey, 66, began his new role as Aston Martin's managing technical partner earlier this year and was present at a race weekend for the first time in Monaco.
The legendary engineer is tasked with turning the Silverstone-based team into one capable of winning titles. Newey's prestigious career has seen him design 12 championship-winning cars across his time at Williams, McLaren and more recently Red Bull.
After spending 19 years spent working alongside Horner, he decided to leave his role as Red Bull's chief technical offer in May 2024. Aston Martin acquired his services, with billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll convincing him to come on board not only as an engineer but also as a shareholder.
Newey has been working behind the scenes on their 2026 car ahead of a change of regulations in the new year, but after a dismal start to this season, he travelled to Monte Carlo to observe the team's practices ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. His former boss, Horner, spoke to Sky Sports and the Red Bull team principal was asked about if he'd spoken to Newey in the paddock.
"It's great to see, I haven't seen him in green yet, he looks like a giant bogey," Horner joked over footage of Newey in his green polo shirt. "It's great to see, he's a racer.
"I don't think he's missed ever a race at this track, even going back to his gardening leave at McLaren but we'll catch up with him later, it's good to see him here."
Newey sat down for a number of interviews in Monaco and confirmed Horner's worst fears: Aston Martin are hoping to sign world champion Max Verstappen from Red Bull. "Max is clearly a phenomenal talent," he acknowledged.
Will Adrian Newey help turn Aston Martin into a title-winning team? Give us your prediction in the comments section.
"And he's a supreme competitor. And part of that means that... Max likes to break things down to a simple equation, if you like, and that is, in his particular case, choosing the team that he believes can deliver the fastest car.
"So if we're ever to attract Max, the first thing we have to do is make a fast car. There's no point really pipe-dreaming about anything beyond that."
But Aston Martin have a long way to go after Newey admitted: "It's fair to say that some of our tools are weak. Particularly our driver-in-loop simulator.
"Ours needs a lot of work because it's not correlating at all at the moment. It is a fundamental research tool so not having that is a limitation. But obviously we've got to work around it in the meantime, and then sort out a plan to get it where it needs to be. But that's probably a two-year project."
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