Red Bull Racing announced today that McLaren's Technical Director Adrian Newey will join the team as Chief Technical Officer at the end of February 2006.

Team boss Christian Horner believes such a move proves the team is serious about their involvement in Formula 1. He said "It (signing Newey) sends out exactly the right message that we are totally serious about what we want to achieve. Adrian was keen to take on a new challenge and I'm delighted that we managed to get him to join us."

Adrian Newey is widely considered to be one of the best Formula 1 designers today having designed several World Championship winning cars for a number of teams.

Newey moved to McLaren from Williams in 1997 and in 2001 he signed a deal with Bobby Rahal the boss of Jaguar Racing at the time however Ron Dennis managed to convince him to stay at McLaren.

Adrian Newey had extended his contract with McLaren in April of this year. At the time it was believed the extension was for a short term although McLaren were confident his long term future is with them.

Although the 2006 McLaren is already designed, the departure of Newey will have a negative impact at McLaren and could affect their Championship chances in 2006.

Statement from McLaren F1

The pressures of working for a front running Formula One team are intense and we have been aware for quite some time that Adrian was looking for a new challenge with a smaller team. The decision to leave McLaren was both amicable and mutual and we wish him all the best in the future.

For the past two years Adrian has been fully involved in the restructuring of McLaren's technical team in preparation for his planned departure. This team has already worked successfully together on the MP4-20 and continues to be fully focused on the MP4-21.

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