Adrian Newey Aims to Earn the Status of 80-Year-Old Rory Byrne Who Still Designs Ferrari’s F1 Cars

As one of the most successful car designers in the history of Formula 1, Adrian Newey had plans to retire from the sport after turning 60. However, he continued to work with Red Bull Racing well into his 60s before deciding to leave the team earlier this year, and now he has signed another contract that would keep him involved in designing Formula 1 cars into his 70s.

The Aston Martin F1 team announced the much-anticipated signing of the aero guru on September 10 for a period of five years with a salary that will eventually reach close to $40 million by the end of his contract. In a conversation on the ‘High Performance’ podcast, Newey explained his thought process in signing this new contract.

He believes that once he retires from the sport, he will achieve the status of 80-year-old Rory Byrne, who still looks after the design of Ferrari’s F1 cars. Instead of being actively involved in the day-to-day activities of designing and developing the cars, Byrne is more like a consultant who often guides Ferrari down the right design path.

And Newey envisions a similar future for himself at Aston Martin. When asked if this is going to be his last official contract in F1, Newey explained, “Yeah, I mean, I honestly thought that, if you’d asked me even two or three years ago, would I ever be moving from Red Bull to another team, I’d say absolutely no way.”

“Next year, I’ll be 66… my dream would be to be in a position, a bit like Rory Byrne achieved with Ferrari, where I can then be a respected and regarded consultant to that team without being involved every day, day to day.”

Newey will hold the position of Managing Technical Partner at Aston Martin and will also be a part owner of the team as Lawrence Stroll has also offered him shares of the company.

The career and achievements of Byrne

Byrne is a South African engineer who has made significant contributions to Formula 1 throughout his career while working for teams such as Toleman, Benetton, and Ferrari. He started his career with Toleman in 1981 and then in 1986 moved to Benneton, where he helped Michael Schumacher win his first two championships in 1994 and 1995.

Byrne joined Ferrari in 1997 and has since been with the Italian team. However, in 2006, he retired from the sport and passed on his role of Chief Designer to his assistant Aldo Costa. He remained with Ferrari as a consultant till 2009 before returning in 2012 to try to improve the F2012.

He has since remained with the team as a mentor and as a consultant. His career is marked by significant success as he is the third most successful car designer in the sport with his cars winning 99 races, seven constructors’ and seven drivers’ championships (all of which Schumacher won).