One of the most successful car designers of all time and having contributed to a total of 25 Championship wins, Adrian Newey has been the main brains behind some of the most dominant F1 cars ever. However, the one he holds the closest to his heart did not taste any success whatsoever.
Naming the great challengers Newey has designed over the years, the likes of the RB9 (with which Sebastian Vettel won nine consecutive races) or the RB19 (which helped Max Verstappen win 19 out of 22) come to mind. But Newey holds the March 881 closest to his heart.
On the ams.F1 podcast, he was asked which car he was most proud of. “My first Formula 1 car, the 881, I think if I look back is the one, in some ways, that I feel most proud of,” the 66-year-old replied.
He revealed that the 881 remains his proudest achievement because doing anything for the first time is special. It was the car that put him “on the map” in F1.
“Adrian is a bargain”
Lawrence Stroll on the money required to bring Adrian Newey in ️ pic.twitter.com/IWuRDoqWuM
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 10, 2024
March’s 881 debuted at the 1988 Brazilian GP and was nowhere near good enough to win the title. Its first-ever race featured a double retirement for both cars on the track, and the best result came in the form of a P2 finish by Ivan Capelli in Portugal that year. The 881 never won a race.
Newey’s genius, however, never went unnoticed by those on the paddock making the big decisions. He signed for big teams like Williams and McLaren soon, designing title-winning cars for both. Then, in 2005, he joined a fresh project in Red Bull, which he helped turn into the best team in F1.
Today, his genius is so celebrated that even the top teams in the sport try and follow in his footsteps.
Newey’s influence
With the onset of the ground-effect era in 2022, technical regulations hit a reset and the aerodynamics of F1 cars changed drastically. Many struggled to make the best of them, but not Newey. He designed the RB19 in 2023, which was arguably the most dominant car in F1 history.
Then came the RB20, a car with a sidepod design that raised several eyebrows. It had a dual inlet system along with a horizontal air inlet, which the likes of Ferrari and McLaren decided to copy. And it proved to be a good decision.
The RB20 was just as dominant as its predecessor in the initial rounds, winning seven of the opening 10 races but the effect soon waned off when Ferrari and McLaren developed their concepts following Red Bull’s struggles.
Coincidently, these came as soon as Newey announced his departure from Red Bull. Balance issues began plaguing the RB20, and they remained until the very end, making it difficult for Verstappen to fight for wins as easily as he had gotten used to.
Newey will now head over to Aston Martin in March once his gardening leave ends, hopefully kickstarting an era of success for the Silverstone-based outfit.
