In this work, we mainly focus on uncertain delayed neural network system with inertial term. Here, the existence, uniqueness, and exponential stability of inertial neural networks are derived without shifting the second order differential system into first order through substituting variables. Initially, we construct a proper Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional to investigate the stability of novel uncertain delayed inertial neural networks, which is different from the classical Lyapunov functional approach. By utilizing the Kirchhoff’s matrix tree theorem, Cauchy–Schwartz inequality, homeomorphism theorem, and some inequality techniques, the necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the designed framework. Subsequently, to exhibit the strength of this outcome, we framed a quantitative example.