McLaren 'ready' for Newey exit.

The McLaren team has insisted that it was prepared for Adrian Newey's departure, having known the highly-rated designer was looking for a different challenge.

While many believed that Newey would only quit Woking to pursue his other love, ocean yacht racing, McLaren was apparently convinced that he would leave for another team in Formula One at some point. The pair almost split in 2001, when Newey appeared poised to join Jaguar Racing, but returned from the brink to enjoy another four years together prior to Tuesday's announcement that the aero expert was joining Red Bull Racing.

"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," a McLaren spokesperson admitted to Reuters, "The decision to leave McLaren was both amicable and mutual and we wish him all the best in the future."

McLaren announced earlier this year that Newey would have a less 'hands-on' role at Woking, but Red Bull Racing sporting director Christian Horner still insisted that the signing was the most significant thing to happen to RBR since its formation in January.

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

According to grandprix.com, Newey's desire to move on was fuelled by the belief that his input was being ignored, even when he felt he knew how to turn around recalcitrant machinery such as the MP4-18 and MP4-19. This year's MP4-20, which had greater Newey influence, pushed Renault all the way for both world titles....