Adrian Newey has created an enduring legacy in crafting championship-winning cars. His recent success with Red Bull in 2023, clinching another double title, brings his championship count to an impressive 25. The presence of such a genius in any team instills a sense of assurance. Unfortunately, Ferrari failed to attain Newey’s services years ago, owing to their strategic mistake.
Given this, former Ferrari manager Peter Windsor provided his viewpoint on Ferrari‘s decision, which he criticized as “stupid.” According to him the choice of not presenting a substantial financial proposal to Adrian Newey might have resulted in a setback for the team, potentially costing them at least four or five titles.
In a recent discussion on his YouTube channel, as quoted by PlanetF1, Peter Windsor pondered on the hypothetical scenario of Ferrari’s results if the team had been willing to invest up to “$2 billion”, to acquire the services of Adrian Newey.
Windsor said, “If only Ferrari had the brains to hire Adrian, eight years ago, even seven years or six years ago, pay him two billion or whatever it was, they would have got all their money back and more because they would’ve won four or five World Championships by now.”
Furthermore, Windsor asserted that Ferrari’s decision to forego the golden opportunity to sign Newey was unquestionably a more misguided choice. Expanding on his assessment, the 80-year-old journalist introduced a hypothetical scenario, suggesting that if Newey were at Ferrari, Max Verstappen might have joined the Scuderia too.
However, these speculations remain theoretical, given Red Bull’s determination to retain the brilliant aerodynamicist. In light of his commitment, Red Bull has recently extended Newey’s contract. Thus, one can expect Red Bull to continue with its euphoric success with Verstappen also staying until 2028.
How did Red Bull manage to convince Adrian Newey to stick around even though Ferrari remained interested?
In 2006, Red Bull invested significant efforts to acquire Adrian Newey from McLaren, despite his high price tag for aerodynamic expertise. Remarkably, at that time, Red Bull was successful in convincing Newey to join them. However, a decade later, the Milton Keynes team encountered a major threat when Ferrari made an appealing offer to attract him.
In a recent appearance on the Eff Won podcast, Horner unveiled the intricacies that almost led to Adrian Newey’s departure from Red Bull. With engine regulation changes and supplier difficulties, alongside an alluring offer from Ferrari, Horner disclosed that Adrian Newey came pretty close to parting ways with the team.
“At that point, Vettel leaves because of the engine, Adrian came very close to leaving, he was within about half an hour signing [for Ferrari].” , said Horner.
Besides this Christian Horner also recounted the crucial moment of convincing Newey to stay during their pub discussion on the podcast. He said, “Ferrari came hard for him. They promised him the world. I managed to persuade him to stay by saying, ‘We’ll do a road car. If you want to do a road car, we’ll do a road car.’ And that’s literally in a pub in England, that’s how it happened.”
Unfortunately, the agreement couldn’t be finalized and the world has missed the opportunity to witness a spectacular car designed by Newey for Ferrari. Nonetheless, the legacy he could’ve left at Ferrari appears to persist at Red Bull, evident in the team’s repeated success.
