Max Verstappen suffers huge blow as departing Red Bull chief makes feelings clear on Lewis Hamilton link-up

Red Bull superstar Max Verstappen is set to suffer a huge blow that could benefit rival Lewis Hamilton.

Over the last three seasons, Dutchman Verstappen has been dominating the rest of the Formula 1 grid as his Red Bull car proves too fast for the others.

After easing to three successive world titles, Verstappen is well on course to become F1 champion again in 2024.

The 26-year-old has won three out of four races so far this season.

However, Verstappen and Red Bull are about to be hit with a huge blow that could benefit current Mercedes star Hamilton.

As reported by the BBC, Red Bull’s design chief Adrian Newey is set to leave the team.

The 65-year-old, who has worked at Red Bull since 2005, is widely regarded as the sport’s greatest designer having overseen two dominant eras with the Austrian team.

Newey was a key part of Sebastian Vettel’s dominance from 2010 to 2014 and the current Verstappen era.

Away from Red Bull, Newey also helped build championship-winning cars at Williams and McLaren.

Over the last few months, Newey has been linked with a move to Ferrari and with the news of his imminent departure, those rumours will be hotting up.

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A huge beneficiary of Newey potentially leaving Red Bull for Ferrari could be Hamilton, who will join the Italian team ahead of the 2025 season.

The arrival of Newey could be the magic ingredient Hamilton needs as he looks to win a record-breaking eighth F1 world title.

When speaking on an episode of the Beyond The Grid podcast, Newey spoke about Hamilton when asked if he wished he had worked with Ferrari during his career.

As per The Express, he replied: “Emotionally, I guess, to a point, yes.

“But just as, for instance, working with Fernando [Alonso] and Lewis would have been fabulous. But it never happened. It's just circumstance sometimes, that's the way it is.”

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Newey also explained why he turned down the chance to work with Ferrari in 1993 and 2014.

He added: “The main reason I didn't is my first marriage failed, for various reasons, but probably predominantly because I went off to IndyCar.

“I was living in the [United] States during the season. My relatively newly-wed life came out with me to start with, really didn't like living in America and went back. That put a strain on our marriage [that] we never really recovered from, to be honest. In '93, I was one year into my second marriage and didn't want to make that same mistake again.”