Having Created ”Rocket Ship” RB19, Aerodynamics God Adrian Newey Gave Up the Opportunity of a Lifetime for Red Bull

Adrian Newey stands as one of the most recognizable figures in F1 owing largely to immensely successful car designs. While the British engineer is currently under the employ of Red Bull, he previously worked with McLaren and Williams, coming up with championship-winning cars for both teams. However, things could have been very different for Newey, as he once got an offer to work on a spacecraft from an American company, but he rejected the advances in favor of staying with Red Bull and creating a ‘Rocket Ship’ for the tracks, as revealed in an update on X by RBR Daily.

“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 space race in the Sixties must have been incredibly stimulating.”

While the idea fascinated Newey and piqued his curiosity, his love for racing was too deep for him to step away from the sport. Newey claimed that there was “tremendous pace” in the development of an F1 car and a lot more involvement as opposed to him working on a spacecraft. As such, the engineer stuck to his roots.

 

Had Newey not done so, Red Bull might not have become the team they are. Working with the team since 2006, Newey developed the team’s first championship-winning car in 2010- the Red Bull RB6, which handed Sebastian Vettel his first-ever drivers’ championship. For the next three seasons, Newey would continue delivering as Red Bull and Vettel secured four consecutive championships before the Mercedes era would start. Had Newey left when he had the chance in 2013-14, Red Bull might never have been able to come up with a car that would dominate the grid the way the RB18 and RB19 did.

Red Bull and Max Verstappen owe their success to Adrian Newey

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were enjoying an era of total domination from 2014 to 2021, and the former would’ve been an 8-time world champion if it weren’t for Newey’s RB17. While Verstappen’s first-ever championship win came under controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi, there is no denying the fact that he drove a car capable of keeping up with the prowess of the Mercedes car throughout the season. The final lap of the race saw Verstappen’s car get the better of Hamilton’s and hand him his first of three world championships.

The following year, Newey ensured his team took full advantage of the regulation change and came up with a car capable of defending Verstappen‘s crown while also securing the constructors’ throne for Red Bull. After surviving an initial challenge from Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, there was no stopping the RB18 from securing both titles with ease. The Red Bull juggernaut made its most daunting evolution in the form of the RB19, blowing away any sliver of a challenge that came its way. The Newey-designed car won all but one race in 2023 and helped the team register arguably the most dominant season in the history of F1.