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“Starts to Become Like WWF”- Adrian Newey on F1’s Current State and Why the Sport Isn’t Competitive

Somin Bhattacharjee
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“Starts to Become Like WWF”- Adrian Newey on F1’s Current State and Why the Sport Isn’t Competitive

Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s dominance in F1 is the only complaint the community has against the sport’s current state. Bringing back the V8/V10 engines, reintroducing smaller and lighter cars, and showboating are all topics of discussion among the fanbase, which Adrian Newey speaks about in a recent interview.

Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer, Newey, has been in F1 since 1988 and has seen the sport change drastically over the years. However, he feels that F1 is in its “most restrictive” era at the moment, with a wide variety of regulations and a cost cap to take care of. These came into effect to make the sport competitive, and the smaller teams should have benefitted from it on paper. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.

Speaking to Autosport, Newey says, “The competitive order under the cost cap hasn’t changed significantly.” On the other hand, there isn’t much F1 or the FIA can do, unless they start adding fake elements to the sport, to ensure competitiveness.

Entertainment and competitiveness cannot go hand in hand according to the 65-year-old. “Unless you make it artificial, which then starts to become like WWF, then I’m not sure you can,” said Newey. By mentioning WWF, Newey wants to bring the world of pro wrestling into light, where results and incidents taking place on live television are pre-decided.

The sport’s governing bodies and teams have different objectives when it comes to racing. Newey further speaks about both of them.

Adrian Newey on why competitiveness is difficult in F1

Newey gives his insight into why technical regulations exist in F1. According to the Red Bull chief, FIA wants the sport to remain competitive. They want a spectacle, and more fans to tune in which is only possible with good-quality racing.

On the other hand, a team doesn’t care about the spectacle. For a team and its engineers, the biggest objective is to build a car, that ideally dominates the rest of the grid, and helps them win all races in a season. These two things cannot go hand in hand, which is when the Brit talks about the unrealistic possibility of scripting results.

Newey has witnessed several eras, and some of them were incredibly boring from a spectator’s point of view. However, he adds that changes are constant in F1, and with time, the baton of a ‘dominant team’ gets passed on to someone else.

Post Edited By:Aishwary Gaonkar

About the author

Somin Bhattacharjee

Somin Bhattacharjee

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Formula 1 Editor Somin Bhattacharjee fell for the sport as well as Fernando Alonso on the same day — during the Spaniard’s thrilling victory at the German GP in 2010. Over the years, the passion magnified manyfold, and metamorphosed into a writing career in 2021. Though holding a bachelor's degree in marketing, Somin discovered his true calling in writing. He has penned over 2,700 articles for TheSportsRush, presenting a diverse range — news reports, opinions, and exclusives. A true Tiffosi, Somin never gives up on a chance to defend the Ferrari boys as a fan. As a sports writer though, he remains objective to the core and relishes opportunities to follow and engage in dissecting the action during races. That’s where the real thrill lies for him. Beyond the racetrack, Somin plays different sports including soccer. He enjoys exploring other sporting events and proudly supports Spanish soccer club Real Madrid.

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