Tag: Domination

Adrian Newey is an enigmatic character and like all geniuses requires a certain degree of management. His early life in Formula One whilst it brought much success, saw the aerodynamic guru take issue with the team management over various issues like reporting structures, with the result being he would leave.

This makes his nineteen year tenure at Red Bull Racing even more remarkable, yet in the end it was this very careful management of their star asset which cause Newey to decide the time was right rot move on.

There were various claims last year, that Newey’s decision was influenced by the allegations made against team principal Christian Horner of “inappropriate behaviour” by a female  employee in Milton Keynes. Yet Horner was completely exonerated at both investigation stage and following the employee’s legal appeal and to characterise Newey as some moral prude would be laughable given the nature of his frequent visits to the public bar at Goodwood during the various historic motorsport events held at the estate each year.

 

 

 

Newey’s fickle history

Newey’s final tenure at McLaren prior to joining Red Bull typified the easy come easy go attitude Newey displayed to his employment in Formula One during the early years. After just three years with the team, Adrian signed a contract in 2001 to join the fledging jaguar team, only for Ron Dennis to pull to all the stops and persuade Newey to stay.

Whilst a year may be a long time in politics, in Formula One it is but a moment in time. Gardening leave stays for senior team personnel may be twelve, eighteen even twenty four months. Having apparently appeased their technical director, rumours continued to persist suggesting Newey was on his way and by late 2004 his future began to look uncertain when speculation began that the engineer could return to Williams or even leave the sport completely. 

Despite strenuous denials from Ron Dennis stories continued to circulate during the 2004/2005 off-season that Newey’s departure was imminent. In April 2005, it was confirmed that his contract with the team had been extended by six months to the end of the year at which point he was expected to take a sabbatical (ever heard that before?) or retire from Formula One design completely, but on 19 July instead he stated that “this step can wait” and he would remain with McLaren for the year 2006.

Red Bull racing have not had it all their own way during their time with their slightly eccentric guru F1 car designer. Following the domination of the Newey designed cars in the hands of Sebastian Vettel between 2010-2014, Adrian became disillusioned with the new F1 engine Formula which saw Mercedes outflank their rivals and build the mightiest of all the V6 Turbo hybrid power units. 

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Red Bull find Newey ‘other jobs”

The underpowered and fragile Renault unit in the back of the Red Bull cars nullified any aerodynamic advantages Newey could bring. A spell designing a America’s Cup yacht, followed by the Aston Martin Valkyrie project appeared to satisfy Newey’s thirst for something other than Formula One, then along came Honda and everything changed.

By now Newey has handed over the F1 technical director role to Pierre Wache and is operating as a floating consultant with the. opportunity to input as much or as little as he chose during the car design process. Of course his inout into the front end and suspension of the new ground effect cars was invaluable, yet in 2024 it was his creations which cause the RB20 to falter.

The key to understanding Newey’s desire to leave Red Bull is simple. He had become bored and felt marginalised – all of his own making – as Christian Horner had been forced to build an F1 technical team which was not reliant on their guru designer. His wife was the key to understanding this motivation as following a routine interview by the Red Bull team boss who explained the all conquering RB19 was the work of the technical team back in Milton Keynes with Newey available whenever as a consultant.

Twice Amanda Newey posted,  “what a load of Hogwash” to a users commenting on an article suggesting Newey was part time. And to another who who suggested that the RB19 was not an Adrian Newey championship-winning car as “absolute bollocks.”

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Brand new F1 era coming

The rest is history. Newey left Red Bull for another sabbatical in his life yet within months he had taken the largest dollar swag bag on offer, which came from Lawrence Stroll and he will arrive at Aston Martin in Silverstone on march 1st this year.

Now Newey has spoken for the first time since his announcement as an Aston Martin share holder and director of all things technical. Team boss Mike Krack has been moved on before Newey’s arrival and Mercedes V6 hybrid engine guru, Andy Cowell is now in situe as principal.

Speaking to German publication AMuS, Newey looks forward to the biggest rule change in Formula One history. “I think there has to be a big chance that it’s an engine formula at the start,” he said. “The reality is I can’t remember another time in Formula 1 when both the chassis regulations and the engine regulations have changed simultaneously and where, in this case, the chassis regulations have been very much written to try to compensate for the power unit regulations. So it’s an extra dimension.”

Having suffered for several years at the hands of Renault who refused to invest in their F1 power unit programme to the extent of Ferrari and Mercedes, Newey believes this time around the manufacturers will do a better job with a new PU design.

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No repeat of Mercedes domination

“I think engine manufacturers will have learned to an extent [from] the lack of preparation that the rivals to Mercedes did prior to that change,” reflected Newey. “But there has to be a chance that one manufacturer will come out well on top and it will become a power unit-dominated regulation, at least to start with.

“And there’s a chance that if it’s on the combustion engine side of it, that somebody comes up with a dominant combustion engine, that will last through the length of the formula, because the way the regulations are written it’s quite difficult for people who are behind to catch up. If it’s on the electrical side, then there’s much more ability to catch up if you’re behind.”

In a slightly unconvincing suggestion that he has been twiddling his thumbs for the past ten months, Newey claims he does not yet understand the full relationship between the chassis and the new power unit, “because I’ve been out of Formula 1, really, since the end of April, then I have little detailed knowledge of the new regulations.

“Of course, the power unit side of the regulations has been out for some time but in terms of the chassis side of it and the aerodynamics and the vehicle dynamics, then I don’t have much knowledge. So that will be a rapid learning curve when I do start.”

Ferrari deadline for Hamilton

 

 

 

Newey reflects on happy life last Red Bull

In a slightly rose tinted view of his last twelve to eighteen months, Newey claims: “If you’d said to me 12 months ago, would I be leaving Red Bull and then now ultimately starting again, I would have said, ‘no, you’re crazy’.

“But, for various reasons, I felt I wouldn’t be true to myself if I stayed at Red Bull. So the first difficult decision was exactly that. Do I stay at Red Bull or not?

“I obviously came to the conclusion that, being honest with myself, I couldn’t. And then having made that decision, it was then what to do next.”

Well Red Bull are about to discover how important Newey in fact was to their design process – even part time – and Adrian is about to learn what hits like to change teams in 2025, which will be significantly different from when he decided to join the fledging Red Bull Racing.

Whether Newey can carry the weight of the entire technical team at Aston Martin is yet to be seen. After all its not a job he’s done for nigh on a decade now.

Marko dismisses Ferrari and Hamilton

 

 

 

Formula One’s Red Bull Racing are on the back foot for the first time since 2020. Their car was just the third quickest come the end of last season as McLaren and Ferrari surged ahead in the development race.

The team plan to address fundamental design issues with the platform of the RB20, which restricted in season development and created a false ceiling in terms of where the team could take the performance of their 2024 challenger.

Of course with Adrian Newey not influencing the first Red Bull F1 car design since 2005, F1analysts will be quick to judge the efforts of the technical team in Milton Keynes headed up by technical director Pierre Wache. Yet in a bizarre twist of fate, it was the Newey designed suspension which trounced the field when the new grind effect car design rules were implemented in 2022 which caused Red Bull their biggest difficulties last year… READ MORE