Adrian Newey may have mixed emotions about leaving Red Bull after 19 long years. However, it seemingly has made him more relaxed, as was evident during the Miami GP, given the way he was speaking and posing for photos. Now, the British designer has gone a step further to show his stress-free mind space by taking the wheel of the 1968 championship-winning F1 car – the Lotus 49B – at the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco.
According to a video on Twitter (now X), Newey is driving the Lotus 49B at Circuit de Monaco. The Lotus 49B is a car that Graham Hill drove to win the 1968 F1 world title, designed by the legendary designer, Colin Chapman.
Adrian Newey driving the Lotus 49B at the #GrandPrixMonacoHistorique! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/wmFELmgYZ6
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) May 10, 2024
Chapman was one of the celebrated F1 designers and also founded the Lotus F1 team. Before Newey came on the scene, Chapman was the pioneer to start the usage of ground-effect cars in the late 1970s and early 80s. Following the Lotus founder, all other teams innovated their cars to follow the ground effect philosophy.
However, the 1968 car was the second car after the Lotus 49 to use the iconic Ford Cosworth DFV engine. Back then, aerodynamics was not as advanced an area of focus in F1 cars as it became from the 80s onwards.
Newey is an individual who has studied many of these past-era cars during his early years as an engineer and aerodynamicist. So, it might have been an honor for him to drive one of these iconic cars at the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique.
However, this is not the first time that Newey has got the taste of an old F1 car. The Briton has designed several championship-winning challengers. Apparently, he drove one of his title-winning cars but did not like the experience of it.
When Adrian Newey got behind the wheel of the Williams FW15
Adrian Newey once drove the 1993 Williams FW15C and felt quite claustrophobic in it. It was reportedly at the end of the ’93 season at Circuit Paul-Ricard in France. Newey described this experience as “World War III breaking out“ in the car’s cockpit.
The Briton acknowledged how he had not paid attention to several things from a driver’s perspective, having designed the car. Despite having traction control in the car, which was a major exclusive innovation at Williams, Newey was “wrestling with the car”.
He also quite embarrassingly stalled the car by going a bit too smooth on the clutch. Later on, Newey also spun out when it started to rain and perhaps took some learnings to make the car more aerodynamically efficient.
The Williams cars of 1992 and ’93 designed by Adrian Newey can arguably be called his best creations. Back then, the Colchester native was only in his fifth year of working in F1. Despite that, he produced some of the most innovative breakthroughs for the FW14B and the FW15C.
The FW15 had traction control, anti-lock brakes, and an active suspension. While the FIA banned these innovations later, it provided Williams with two utterly dominant championship seasons in’92 and ’93, with Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost winning the drivers’ titles respectively.
