Press: Mercedes offers shares to Adrian Newey to lure him to Brackley and stop from joining rival Ferrari

Red Bull's outgoing star designer Adrian Newey has reportedly been offered shares in Mercedes which could see the British engineer join the Anglo-German outfit after his exit from the Milton Keynes-based team.

Adrian Newey announced his departure from Red Bull on the 1st of May. The British engineer has not left the Milton Keynes-based outfit yet as he still regularly attends F1 races, but he is slowly shifting his focus to Red Bull's Hypercar project which will be launched this summer.

The news broke exactly on the 30th anniversary of the death of three-time F1 champion Ayrton Senna. Newey later explained that he did not want to choose this day to announce his looming departure from Milton Keynes, but such was the speculation around his future that he was forced to clear the situation.

Since the announcement, the speculation around Newey's future has been immense. The Briton has suggested on multiple occasions that he might take a short break before he commits himself to a new project, indicating that it might be another spell in an F1 team.

Formula One's most successful designer has been approached by several teams. Williams team boss James Vowles revealed that he had several talks with Newey while Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll was also reported to have approached Newey, trying to persuade him to his F1 team.

However, many suggested that Ferrari might have the best cards to secure the services of Newey. It was even reported that team boss Fred Vasseur flew to London ahead of the Miami Grand Prix to hold talks with Newey, and it was believed that the Scuderia has already signed a contract with the star engineer.

Former Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan, who manages Newey, has rubbished reports that the renowned designer has signed for Ferrari.

Speaking on his Formula For Success podcast, Jordan noted that "it’s really very wrong to be so blatant about [Newey] joining a certain team.

“I’m speaking as someone who should know and I’m not giving any information away… at no stage is any of this discussion happening. There will be talks, and there will be ongoing talks because we have yet to decide what Adrian himself wants to do. He’s been at this since coming straight from his dream of being an engineer at university, Leyton House, McLaren, Williams.

“The guy is 60-something, he’s getting a new boat. I would’ve said equally alongside all those potential teams we’re talking about, the fifth team he should be thinking about is himself.

“Himself and Amanda, they have a wonderful home in Cape Town, we see a lot of them and they are great, great friends. I have no idea, and let it be clear, it will always be Adrian’s decision, and so it should be.”

In recent days, it has emerged that Ferrari might have given up its plans to sign Newey, who could have joined the Scuderia as a consultant. Respected German journalist Michael Schmidt, who works for German publication AMUS, suggested that Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur abandoned the idea of bringing the British engineer to the Maranello-based team.

It has also been suggested that the potential signing of Newey caused unrest at Ferrari with several key members have started to express their fear that they might lose their position with the arrival of the Briton.

Amid the uncertainty, Aston Martin reportedly set their sights on Ferrari’s technical director Enrico Cardile who has been a key figure in the Scuderia’s recent success.

German publication Autobild has now reported that Mercedes are willing to offer Newey shares worth £1.1billion in a bid to secure the British engineer's services.

It would be a no-brainer for Mercedes to lure Newey to Brackley. They could stop the British engineer from signing for Ferrari and so they could avoid the establishment of a potential "dream team" of Newey and Lewis Hamilton at the Scuderia. But more importantly, the Anglo-German outfit could boost its own chances in the new technical era of Formula One which has seen Mercedes fail to master the new ground-effect cars so far since 2022.

Speaking about the possible Mercedes-Newey marriage, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher noted: "Newey is not a politician, he said. He just wants to work in peace. Once there is no harmony in a team, he no longer has any desire to be there.

"However, if Newey really does go to Mercedes, that could inspire Max Verstappen to follow suit. The (Newey) breakup and the current power struggle would definitely make me think about moving if I were him.

"I think the idea of starting up a team like Mercedes probably attracts him. He wants to show he is world champion not only because he has the best car, but because he is the best driver," Schumacher said.