In the modern age of Formula 1, Adrian Newey is considered to be the aerodynamic god of F1, having designed multiple championship winning cars in his fabled career. Yet, the design genius has refuted any claims that he was intrigued or drawn towards the design of aeronautics when he was young.
While talking about his lack of interest in the subject, Newey revealed, (as per Top Gear)
“My burning desire was to get into motor racing as a design engineer, and I figured that aircraft were closer to racecar technology than any other engineering discipline. So aeronautics was the logical choice and Southampton seemed to have the closest links to motor racing.”
️ | Adrian Newey on tackling with floor technical rule changes in 2023
“The interesting thing about that was when the change was announced last year we were discussing it internally. Some of our guys were saying, ‘no, we’ve got to really fight this’.”
“But I took the view that… pic.twitter.com/uHN9CjBul6
— RBR News (@redbulletin) January 10, 2024
In his illustrious Formula 1 career, Newey has won 25 world championships. What’s more, the British engineer designed the 2023 Red Bull challenger; the RB19, that won a whopping 21 Grands Prix out of a 22-race calendar, last year.
Newey’s expertise and genius have granted the Bulls an incomparable advantage over their rivals. With how quick the RB19 was, the Bulls now have a solid baseline to dominate the sport at the least until the 2026 regulations kick in.
Adrian Newey and Red Bull to prosper and dominate at least until 2026
As the 2022 regulations reset came into place, Red Bull became the most dominant team on the grid. With Adrian Newey at the helm of the team, the Milton Keyes-based outfit has gone onto develop a car that operates as the benchmark for the entire field.
Naturally, as the team benefits from Newey’s expertise and experience, the Briton also gets paid exponentially. As things stand, Newey bags a lucrative $10,000,000 salary package from Red Bull for his services.
Adrian Newey reveals that he was offered to work on spacecrafts by an American company in the past
“Actually, an American company did ring me up, about 10 years ago now, to ask if I would be interested in joining them to work on a spacecraft. It would be fascinating, and the… pic.twitter.com/uVBrjFKv0S
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) January 13, 2024
Despite his own genius, Newey contributed much of the Bulls’ success to Max Verstappen. He said,
“The ability to drive the car extremely quickly, but still have constant reserve is something which Max very clearly has and I would say all the true greats that I’ve worked with have also been the same.”
In 2024, Red Bull seem like the favorites to wrap up both the championships in their favor. However, the resurgence of McLaren, Mercedes or Ferrari could pose a problem. Nonetheless, from 2026 onwards, Verstappen and Newey’s reign of dominance depends on the efficacy of the Ford x Red Bull power unit.
