Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s global chief technical officer, may be set to leave the Milton Keynes-based team at the end of the season, according to a report from BBC Sport.

Speculation about a potential departure ramped up Thursday after the report. When reached for comment, Red Bull didn’t confirm or deny if the highly regarded designer has expressed a desire to leave the reigning world champions and said that Newey remains under contract until at least the end of 2025.

Newey is widely considered one of the greatest Formula One designers, being part of 12 constructors’ world championship victories. He’s designed championship-winning cars for Williams and McLaren and has spent nearly two decades with Red Bull, dating back to 2006.

If he is to depart from Red Bull, it will spark a race for his signature, with significant interest anticipated from Ferrari and Aston Martin.

Per BBC Sport, Newey’s desire to leave stems from the ongoing situation with team principal Christian Horner, who faces allegations of inappropriate behavior. Horner has continued to deny these allegations, and the initial grievance was dismissed. However, the female employee has since appealed.

As the process unfolded, a power struggle appeared to surface within the reigning world championship team…

Susie Wolff’s quiet confidence is evident the moment you meet her.

She’s ambitious and bold, not afraid to fight for something she believes in. And when her character came into question when the FIA launched an inquiry into allegations of conflict of interest last year, Wolff pushed back, filing a criminal complaint last month in relation to the governing body’s statements.

To understand why she’s pursuing legal action, one first must understand Wolff herself, a woman whose name has become synonymous with the fight for women in motorsport. Born Susie Stoddart, the Scot has worn many hats over the years, navigating the motorsport ranks as a driver before entering the management side, now serving as the managing director of the all-women series F1 Academy.

Wolff’s story is one defined by tenacity, starting from a small town in Scotland and morphing into a journey of showing how women belong and can be successful in what’s still considered “a man’s world.”

“Someone said to me many years ago, dream and dream big. But always have a plan because of a dream without a plan, that’s called a wish,” she said in Las Vegas last year. “You need to know how you’re gonna achieve your dreams and have the tenacity to make them happen.”

The rise of a ‘calculated’…

MELBOURNE, Australia — Lewis Hamilton wants Susie Wolff’s decision to take legal action against the FIA to “create change” in Formula One, calling out the lack of transparency and accountability “within this sport” and “within the FIA.”

On Thursday, the FIA announced that its president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, had been cleared by its ethics committee after an investigation found that allegations of sporting interference made against him were “unsubstantiated.”

Hours later, Wolff, the managing director of the all-women F1 Academy series, revealed she had filed a criminal complaint against the FIA.

This legal action, lodged in France on March 4, is related to statements made by the FIA in December after a short-lived probe into an alleged conflict of interest involving Wolff and her husband, Toto, the Mercedes team principal, and the potential passing of sensitive information.

Speaking on Thursday in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Hamilton, the seven-time F1 world champion who drives for Mercedes, said he was “incredibly proud” of Susie Wolff and that “for her to be standing up sends such a great message.” He then called out “a real lack of accountability here, within this sport, within the FIA.”

“Things that are happening behind closed…

Follow live coverage of the F1 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix today

Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s twice-weekly F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox.

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Welcome back to Prime Tire, where we’re looking at the renderings of a new Saudi Arabia circuit (scheduled for 2027), wondering whether they know it looks like a Mario Kart track. Can you even fit a Koopa Shell in a Formula One car? Has science solved this yet?

Anyway, qualifying and practice are wrapped up in Saudi Arabia – and so is a frantic week of off-track stories. It’s been a messy start to the season. I’m Patrick, and Luke Smith will be along shortly. Let’s dive in.

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Horner: ‘Move on’ from the investigation story

We should briefly touch on the latest updates in the Christian Horner story:

• The Athletic confirmed on Thursday that Red Bull Racing has suspended with pay the female employee who made allegations of inappropriate behavior against team principal Christian Horner. The suspension is related to the findings of an outside investigation that led to the dismissal of a grievance against Horner.
• A spokesperson for Red Bull Racing said the team would not comment on employee matters. Horner declined to comment during a Thursday press conference for…

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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Christian Horner believes it is time to “move on” and put the focus back on Formula One’s on-track action, saying that is “where the spotlight should be.”

But amid the continued aftermath of the allegations against the Red Bull Racing team principal over inappropriate behavior and further off-track controversies concerning the FIA, the sport remains under a cloud.

Horner was speaking on Thursday in the FIA press conference ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, just hours after it emerged that Red Bull Racing had suspended with pay the female complainant who made the allegations.

The grievance made against Horner was dismissed following an investigation conducted by a King’s Counsel (KC), an independent investigator. According to a person briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the complainant’s suspension links to the findings of the investigation.

Asked by The Athletic about the suspension, Horner said he “can’t comment on anything confidential between an employee and a company.”

The “move on” comment came during a 30-minute press conference that…

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Red Bull Formula One adviser Helmut Marko has suggested he could be suspended as early as next week amid questions about whether he was involved in leaks of information regarding a grievance against team principal Christian Horner.

In the latest twist at the top of Red Bull Racing in the wake of allegations of inappropriate behavior made against Horner and the resulting investigation, Marko, 80, is facing an investigation of his own from the team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH. On Friday, Marko acknowledged the possibility of a suspension and star driver Max Verstappen defended Marko as a critical presence on his team.

The internal investigation of Marko relates to several information leaks, including a cache of purported messages and photos that were sent to top-ranking F1 officials, broadcasters and reporters soon after Red Bull announced that the grievance against Horner had been dismissed, according to a source briefed on the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A Google Drive folder containing messages alleged to be between Horner and the female complainant was sent anonymously to media outlets, including The Athletic, which has not been able to verify the contents. Horner has repeatedly refused to comment on their authenticity.

Speaking to…

A Mini Cooper changed the trajectory of Reema Juffali’s life.

The Saudi Arabian grew up fascinated by cars – she describes herself as a proper “petrolhead.” But after watching her first 24 Hours of Le Mans during college, when she saw an amateur driver standing on the podium, Juffali realized, “Even though I didn’t understand how the race works, that was enough for me to realize, ‘Oh, okay, this is something that I can do if I like.’” A year or so later, at around 19, she secured her first track day in the U.K. and took her sister’s Mini Cooper for a spin.

Juffali pushed the car to its limit, confirming she could pursue motorsports if she chose to. “It was just instantaneous, like, the feeling of, ‘This is where I belong.’”

But getting her foot in the door was more difficult. Becoming Saudi Arabia’s first-ever female race driver and launching her own team was “a long and slow process.” Now, as F1 Academy’s first wild card entry of the season, Juffali can shine a spotlight on her country and use the platform to push towards a different goal than people may expect, considering the series is part of the F1 pyramid.

“My goal and aspiration is not necessarily to be an F1 driver,” Juffali said. “But what F1 Academy has done for many drivers and…

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Red Bull Racing has suspended with pay the female employee who made allegations of inappropriate behavior against team principal Christian Horner, a person briefed on the matter told The Athletic on Thursday.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not give more details about the terms or reason for the suspension, but acknowledged that it was related to the findings of an outside investigation that led to the dismissal of a grievance against Horner.

Red Bull GmbH, the parent company of Red Bull Racing, acknowledged when the woman’s complaint was dismissed last week that she has the right to appeal. It is not clear whether an appeal has been filed, or how that would be processed.

A spokesperson for Red Bull Racing said the team would not comment on employee matters. Asked about the reported suspension in a news conference Thursday, Horner also declined to comment. “Even if I would like to talk about it, I can’t, because of those confidentiality restrictions,” he said of the investigation.

The FIA, the regulator for the sport, said it did not deem it appropriate to comment on a team’s action against one of its employees. It referred questions to F1, which declined to comment.

Since the dismissal of the grievance, Horner has faced…

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Max Verstappen says his intention is “absolutely to stay” with Red Bull in Formula One but does not see a time when he races without his father by his side.

Verstappen’s father, Jos, said last week that Red Bull risked being “torn apart” if team principal Christian Horner remained in his role after controversy surrounding an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior towards a female employee.

The employee’s grievance was dismissed last week, but an anonymous leak of messages allegedly sent by Horner led to fresh scrutiny of his position.

Jos Verstappen told the Daily Mail that Red Bull Racing was “in danger of being torn apart” and would “explode” if Horner continued as team principal, taking the fracture within the team public.

Speaking for the first time since his father made the comments, Max Verstappen said his focus lay chiefly on the team’s performance and was not drawn on potential divides within Red Bull.

GO DEEPER

Red Bull’s Bahrain domination can’t pull F1’s attention away from Christian Horner

But he said he never envisions a time when he races without Jos and his manager, Raymond Vermeulen, as part of his entourage.

“We’re a team,” Verstappen said. “It’s me, my dad and Raymond altogether. And…

F1 Academy is back, and there are plenty of changes for season two.

At its core, the all-women series features drivers between the ages of 16 and 25 who will compete in identical cars. It’s not the first all-female racing series (the other was W Series), but the difference is the buy-in from Formula One. F1 Academy is part of the F1 pyramid, the sport’s term for its minor league-type setup, and the goal is to help women to continue advancing.

Marta García won the 2023 title, and as a result, has a fully-funded seat for this year’s Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA). A majority of the 2023 grid is returning this year, with the support of the 10 F1 teams and five companies, and there are new names competing, like Lia Block (Williams) and Doriane Pin (Mercedes).

The bigger changes pertain to how the series will be run and promoted. The 2024 F1 Academy season will see wild card entries at select rounds (regional drivers will be chosen). The calendar is aligning with F1’s schedule, super license points will be given to the top five finishers, the series will be broadcast, and a new limit will restrict how long drivers can compete in the series.

Let’s dive into what you need to know for year two.

The F1 Academy Class of ‘24

15 drivers, 7 races, 1…