What next for Newey? Ferrari? Aston Martin? Williams? Sailing?

With Red Bull in his rear-view mirror, what next for Newey? Ferrari? Aston Martin? Williams? Sailing? No one knows; apart from Adrian's inner circle and perhaps his management team (aka former F1 owner turned entrepreneur Eddie Jordan) and there are still no clues.

65-year-old Newey shocked the F1 world with the announcement that few saw coming. We asked the question at the time: What Next for Newey? Ferrari? Or sailing? That's grown in options.

The Newey-to-Ferrari, alongside Lewis Hamilton, option appears to have gone cold. Unless the deal was signed when Fred Vasseur visited the UK to meet with Newey, as Italian media alleged, and they are all keeping it in-house for now.

Meanwhile, step up Lawrence Stroll whose Aston Martin (and very big bucks) are luring quite a platoon of F1 big shots as the Canadian billionaire sets on building his own Super Team. Newey had a tour of the factory according to several credible reports.

Then, of course, Williams team boss James Vowles also flung his hat in the ring to lure Newey back to the team he helped make great during the Sir Frank Williams-era at Grove. Turning backmarkers into F1 winners, a challenge the design guru might embrace.

Williams, Ferrari or Aston? Or sailing off around the world in his purpose-built, self-styled, ready to hit the water Oyster Yacht?

In the aftermath of the launch of the Red Bull RB17 supercar which broke cover last week, probably the process of Newey clearing his desk and to-do list as he eases out of the team, inevitably his future was broached.

The Red Bull connection will remain by virtue of the road car he masterminded, Newey dipped into his best Ron-speak to dodge questions about his future.: "I will continue to be involved in the development of the RB17 through production and so forth.

"I’ve really put a lot of time into this in terms of evenings and weekends, trying to fit it in with F1. I certainly want to see it through to completion. The shareholders at Red Bull, Christian [Horner, Red Bull team boss], everybody else is very supportive of that, so I will be still involved on this side of things.”

Winding down his two-decade involvement with the Red Bull F1 team he has helped build into an F1 winning force from scratch. And keeping the Red Bull RB19 competitive for Max Verstappen, as the opposition closes in alarmingly for the once-dominant F1 World Champions.

In the wake of the RB17 launch, at Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, Newey said he could now "also take a bit of holiday time. I’ve been kind of in the business pretty much non-stop for a long time now, so having a little bit of a break is nice.”

Newey’s departure from Red Bull ends one of the great partnerships in Formula 1 history. And an estimated $10-million a year in savings, which is what the great designer earns with the F1 World Champs.

Money well spent. For two decades his cars won six F1 Construtors’ titles, seven F1 driver titles thus far for Sebastian Vettel (4) and Max Verstappen (3) and likely to claim a title or two this year too.

As for the immense speculation surrounding his next move, Newey said: “I have to admit, I don’t read the press very much, but of course I hear [things]. Amanda, my wife, kind of follows it and gives me a rough update, so yes, it’s very flattering, of course.

“My passion has always been trying to add performance to cars, to race cars, so the rest is, of course, part of it, but it’s not what wakes me up and motivates me," was the cryptic conclusion offered by Newey on the matter.

A classic 'no-answer' answer to a question that his former McLaren boss Ron Dennis (a true F1 Legend) mastered. Ron-speak!