Adrian Newey is considered to be one of the greatest Formula One masterminds that has ever lived.
Newey, whose preference is to sketch his innovative designs on an old-school drawing board rather than using computer-animated design software, has played a significant role in 13 drivers’ World Championships and a dozen constructors’ titles.
Ask any team boss in the paddock who they would rather sign, Newey or seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, and you might be surprised how many would opt for the former. Should Newey get his reported wish to leave Red Bull, there could be a clamour for his services.
Newey’s first championship success arrived in 1992 when Nigel Mansell crushed the opposition in his all-conquering Williams.
Titles for Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve all followed for the British team before Newey was persuaded by Ron Dennis to move to McLaren in 1997. One year after Newey joined, and Mika Hakkinen was celebrating the first of successive titles.
By now, Newey had established himself as the most sought-after engineer in the sport and new kid on the block Christian Horner wasted no time in persuading Red Bull’s billionaire founder Dietrich Mateschitz to open his cheque book.
“Given the choice of Adrian Newey or Michael Schumacher, I’d go for Adrian every time,” said Horner of his star acquisition in 2006.
And as chief technical officer, Newey delivered on Horner’s praise by transforming Red Bull from an energy drinks company into an F1 tour de force – with Sebastian Vettel sweeping all before him to land four consecutive titles between 2010 and 2013.
Although Mercedes mastered the next set of regulations, a Newey-inspired Red Bull fought back to reclaim their spot at motor racing’s summit, with Verstappen taking the 2021 title before storming to the next two championships.
And with a fourth world crown almost certain for Verstappen – in a car widely acclaimed as the fastest the sport has ever seen – 65-year-old Newey clearly has not lost his magic touch.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here