The 2022 ground effect regulations that the FIA introduced were intended to make F1 more exciting. Since the rules made it easier to follow and overtake cars, it helped promote closer racing between teams. While the new regulations did promote the same, the FIA did not realize how the rule changes will work right into the hands of Adrian Newey. F1 expert Peter Windsor elaborated on how Newey’s brilliance and experience helped Red Bull beat everyone recently.
Speaking on his YouTube live stream, Windsor cited as quoted by F1 Maximaal,
“What they (FIA) didn’t realize was that they were playing hugely into Adrian Newey’s hands by forcing everyone to design a ground effect car, because Newey is the only designer or aerodynamicist who really knew what he was doing, and still knows what he’s doing.”
Newey has been designing F1 cars ever since the late 1980s. Hence, his engineering and technical understanding is much more advanced and innate. During the 70s and 80s, F1 had ground-effect cars after Colin Chapman introduced the Lotus car as one of the first ground-effect cars on the grid.
Adrian Newey, thus, has a relatively better understanding of how to get the best of the ground effect regulations. He had studied those regulations and even worked with the Fittipaldi team to some extent to understand them practically.
So, Windsor hit the nail on the head in assessing how the FIA inadvertently helped the British designer to do his masterful work which he has for Red Bull. While the 65-year-old is toward the twilight of his career, he still is one of the best car designers on the grid.
Even Windsor acknowledged Newey’s talent and mastery in aerodynamics. Therefore, it was perhaps inevitable that Red Bull would produce rapid cars under Newey’s supervision despite FIA’s intention of better racing with the 2022 rules.
How all teams are jumping on Red Bull’s bandwagon to emulate what Adrian Newey did?
After two seasons of trial and error, all remaining teams have understood that the Red Bull concept is the best to work with under the current regulations. Mercedes tried their level best with their unique zero side pod concept but admittedly faltered.
Steadily, they too have moved away and have tried to get some inspiration from their arch-rivals. However, for 2024, the Silver Arrows are claiming that they will still be bringing a fresh concept, unlike Red Bull.
Similarly, Ferrari is doing a 95% overhaul of their 2023 car. However, they have cited how their challenger will try to go more the Red Bull way and try to retain its core strengths such as qualifying speed. Overall, the Italian outfit is looking to get better on race pace, where they have had most of their struggles and deficit to Red Bull.
Last season, Aston Martin already started following the Red Bull concept for their 2023 car. While they were very quick initially, as the season went along, their pace dropped off. During the in-season development, the Silverstone-based team faltered in taking the car in the right direction.
That’s not it, as teams such as McLaren are also looking to draw inspiration from Adrian Newey and his masterful machinery – the RB19 – to inch closer to Red Bull. Whether any of these teams can succeed in bridging the gap, only time will tell.
