Ever since Adrian Newey has announced his departure from Red Bull, people have been wondering what his next move will be. Newey is not a man known for sitting still, and his sudden departure from Red Bull before his contract was up does suggest he was already looking for a new employer. And there is definitely no shortage of options: every team will be eager to sign Newey, given that his cars have won a total of 25 titles since 1990. But so far, there hasn’t been any concrete news about the star designer.
Enter Jeremy Clarkson. The TV presenter, known for Top Gear and The Grand Tour, actually has some ties to Adrian Newey because they went to school together. Clarkson was present at the British Grand Prix last weekend and found himself in front of the microphone of Dutch broadcaster Viaplay. And it was in that interview that Clarkson dropped a serious bombshell. “Do you want an exclusive? I know Adrian Newey is house hunting in Oxfordshire, not Maranello.”
What does that mean?
Now, if you’re anything like me (ergo: not British), you’re probably wondering: ‘Where the hell is Oxfordshire?’
Well, Wikipedia tells us that Oxfordshire is a lovely county in the south of England, roughly 100 kilometers west of London. It is home to great natural beauty, it houses the prestigious university of Oxford, and it’s where Winston Churchill was born. The area is known for its many rivers and wonderful farmland.
It also just so happens to be the county that Grove and Enstone are located in. Grove is the place where Williams has their HQ, Enstone is one of the two bases of Alpine (the other being Viry, in France).
So, what does this mean? Well, the implication is pretty clear: Newey is looking for a house in Oxfordshire to be closer to his new employer, which would then be either Williams or Alpine.
Although… those don’t have to be the only options. Because if we zoom out a little, we see that there’s a couple of other F1 team bases not too far away either. Woking (McLaren) is about 100 km away from Oxfordshire, Silverstone (Aston Martin) is a mere 40 km away, and Brackley (Mercedes) can be reached with just a 45 minute commute. So while those three aren’t as close as Grove and Enstone, they can’t exactly be ruled out either.
The main thing this tells us though, is that Maranello is out. As you probably gathered from the name, Maranello is the homebase of Ferrari, in Italy. Rumors came out pretty quickly after Newey’s departure that he’d move to Ferrari next, but it seems like that option has now been taken off the table.
Can we actually trust this?
That’s probably the biggest question here: how reliable is this information?
Well, as I said before: there is some connective tissue between Adrian Newey and Jeremy Clarkson, although it’s not exactly clear how well they have kept in touch over the years. It also happens to be the case that Clarkson himself is currently living in Oxfordshire, so he might have some pretty good insider knowledge there.
Of course, Jeremy Clarkson isn’t exactly the best source out there. He’s someone who enjoys a good bit of gossip and he definitely likes to toy around with the media. He’s what I’d call a professional shit-stirrer. I can definitely see him chuckling over all the experts being in a frenzy based on what he said. But I also have yet to catch him spreading outright falsehoods or just making stuff up. Clarkson has matured quite a bit and has grown beyond his tendency to be in the spotlight through whatever means possible.
So I do believe that Clarkson is telling some version of the truth. He will probably have heard the rumor that Newey is looking for a house in Oxfordshire, and will have been honest in what he shared with Viaplay. What’s important now though, is which part of Oxfordshire Newey will move to. And that is still something that remains to be seen.