Fernando Alonso has completed 18 seasons in his long and decorated F1 career. In these 18 years, he has practically experienced several highs and lows. However, there is one man he regrets not having worked with. That man is Adrian Newey- the architect of Max Verstappen and several other F1 drivers’ success.
Motorsport recently quoted Alonso as saying, “For me, it’s just an incredible person that I was so lucky to work in the same environment as him. Even if we never worked together, I’m happy that [I’m] living and driving in this time – that Adrian Newey is just building Formula 1 cars. I wish one day that I was working with him.”
Coincidentally, Newey recently expressed the same wish that Alonso reciprocated. Speaking on F1: Beyond the Grid podcast, the Red Bull CTO expressed regret over not getting the opportunity to work with Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
It’s not like the Spaniard and Newey’s paths never came close to crossing. Alonso admitted there were occasions where they came close to working together. The Asturian driver was perhaps referring to the few occasions when he was linked with a move to Red Bull. One thing that the Aston Martin man cherishes, however, is the collab for Newey’s book. Alonso admitted that it was a “pleasure” for him to write the prologue for Newey’s book.
The decorated career of Adrian Newey
The 21 races won by the RB19 out of 22 in 2023 is a feather in the crown that Newey adorns. The Briton is among the last of the old-school engineers from F1’s original ground-effect era. That, perhaps, is among the biggest reasons for the unprecedented success that Red Bull and Verstappen boast of. Having started his F1 career back in 1988 with March/Leyton House, Newey won his first title with Williams in 1992 courtesy of Nigel Mansell.
He would go on to win 4 more constructors’ titles for Williams with the likes of Alain Prost and Jacques Villeneuve. The incredible feat made him a hot property in F1 and soon McLaren became his next destination. The Papaya team won 3 titles in total (1 constructor and 2 drivers) with him before Red Bull became his permanent destination in 2006.
Success, however, did not turn up until 2010. Sebastian Vettel made the most of Newey’s extraordinary creations and delivered 4 drivers’ and as many constructors’ titles for Red Bull. The advent of the hybrid engine era halted that juggernaut which only gained steam with the resurgence of ground-effect cars in 2022. RB19 took the baton from its predecessor with aplomb to smash several records along the way. The most coveted record among those was the highest win rate in a season. Red Bull broke McLaren’s long-standing record from 1988 by achieving a win rate of 95.65%.
To confine Newey’s talents to just F1 would be a disservice to his legendary status. Determined to fulfill the late Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz’s wish, Newey is currently working on a submarine project. Apart from that, his commitment to prolong Verstappen’s golden run remains unbridled with RB20 in the making.
