Combined with the skill sets of an F1 driver, a team also requires a brilliant engineer to win the championships. Keeping that in mind, Red Bull signed F1’s one of the best engineers, Adrian Newey in the 2006 season and has ever since been rising through the ladder.
The Milton-Keynes-based team secured the services of Newey when his contract with McLaren came to an end. Guardian had reported at the time that the Briton had demanded a salary hike from $6 Million to $10 Million a year from McLaren.
Newey had designed the McLaren’s F1 car that won 10 of the 19 races in the 2005 season. Still Ron Dennis, McLaren chairman and Martin Whitmarsh, CEO did not make such an investment and let Newey go.
But Red Bull was aware of the hype Newey had and the team’s billionaire man, Dietrich Mateschitz, did not budge an eye on meeting the engineer’s demands.
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s team principal, asserted to the Guardian at the time that ‘they would rather have Newey than Michael Schumacher on their strength.’ He proclaimed that given the choice, he would always prefer Newey.
Newey’s contribution to Red Bull’s victories
Even after a 32-year-long illustrious career, Newey is one of the most celebrated designers in Formula 1. His designs have won 11 constructors’ championships with three different teams.
He has helped 7 different F1 drivers win Drivers’ championships and has won 193 Grand Prix.
Red Bull won 4 consecutive driver and constructors’ titles between 2010 and 2013 with Sebastian Vettel.
Currently, as the team’s Chief Technical Officer, Newey helped Red Bull end Mercedes’ 8-year of dominance in the sport by taking the constructors’ title in 2022 and winning the drivers’ championship in 2021 with Max Verstappen.
⚙️ | How did the RB18 evolve into such a dominant car this season?
Adrian Newey: “Statistically, obviously, RB18 has been our best car. It’s a car I think we can be very proud of in as much as we had a tight championship battle through 2021, and arguably we put too much….” pic.twitter.com/8ImiPFnnfo
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) December 14, 2022
Newey wanted to take on a new challenge – Christian Horner
Back in 2006 when Newey entered the Red Bull camp after signing a deal of $10 Million/ year salary, Horner said that he was not moving for the money.
This must have been quite humourous for the McLaren hierarchy to believe given the circumstances but the Red Bull team principal insisted that Newey’s motivation was not money or fiscal.
According to Horner, the engineer wanted to take on a new challenge with a smaller team.
Also Read: Adrian Newey explains what Red Bull learnt during Mercedes’ era of dominance
