Adrian Newey reveals his offers to join Ferrari

Adrian Newey's name is synonymous with success in F1. His designs have helped secure a total of 11 constructors' championships and 12 drivers' titles across three different teams - Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. However, it could have been a very different story had he given into temptation earlier on in his career.

During an interview with Sky Sports Italy, Newey admitted that there were two occasions when he was seriously considering joining Ferrari but ultimately decided against it due to personal reasons. The first opportunity came during his stint at Williams between early-to-mid-1990s while the second one presented itself when he moved from Williams to McLaren back in '97.

Newey explained how difficult it was for him as a family man; moving countries would mean uprooting everything and everyone close to him which included two young children who would need to settle into new schools.

"It was very tempting," said Newey about joining Ferrari. “Of course, it’s such a legendary brand. Probably the time that it would have been most tempting would have been around ’93 time". He continued "At the time, my kids were young, I didn’t know how they’d settle in an Italian school, commuting… Moving teams is always a huge workload”.

Newey's decision not to go through with either move proved successful for both parties involved as many consider this designer-driver combination vital for their championship-winning seasons respectively. Ferrari has also seen its fair share of successes over these years without having hired Adrian. Newey's ultimate choice meant staying put within closer proximity with loved ones thus creating less disruption overall.

Indeed despite not having worked directly together, the relationship between Adrian and Ferrari is an interesting one.

In any case, it seems as though Newey's decision ultimately worked out for him given his incredible success with Red Bull over the past 17 years and counting. In fact, he recently signed a new deal confirming that he will be staying at Milton Keynes "for many seasons to come".

“I’ve been involved in Red Bull more or less from the start” he said.

It appears then that while the temptation may have knocked twice on Adrian’s door, it wasn't enough for him to lose sight of what really mattered most – whether working with legendary brands like Ferrari would bring personal fulfilment which included keeping things closer home or building something reliably successful together, a hallmark of Redbulls tenure under Adrian himself.