The Adrian Newey Influence

The Red Bull Renault team have domination of F1 and stand on the verge of a fourth manufacturers championship As Vettel takes the plaudits lets look at the man who designed the car.

Adrian Newey is a genius in his field. He is to F1 car design what Lennon and McCartney are to song-writing or Muhammad Ali was to boxing and Pele was to football. This year will be his tenth car he has designed that has went on to win the F1 constructors title across three different teams. To date in those glorious years his cars have won just over 50% of all races (85 wins in 168 races). For evidence of the strengths he brings to teams look at the effect once he has left. On leaving Williams at the end of 1997 they went from perrenial world title contenders into a slump they have not yet recovered from. Villeneuve was untouchable in 1996 in the Williams (Newey-designed) winning seven races and taking ten pole positions (sound familiar?) and a year later in the Williams (non-Newey designed) Villeneuve's best finish was 3rd in a race and he had no pole positions.

Similarly, McLaren and Mika Hakkinen reaped the rewards of Newey's design skills in 1998 winning 8 races and taking nine pole positions (with team-mate Coulthard also taking three poles). Only the rival master designer Rory Byrne at Ferrari could wrestle away McLaren's dominance although McLaren remained one of the teams to beat until Newey left early in 2006.

Newey moved on to Red Bull and began to work his magic there where he has designed the fastest car on the grid bar none since 2010. The Red Bull has won 50% of all F1 races since the beginning of the 2010 season and has seen this relatively new team (compared to old hands Ferrari and McLaren) become the strongest force in F1. The interesting thing will be if Red Bull remain a dominant force once Newey moves on or retires. That will test the team's resolve and ingenuity.

Genius, pure & simple. His record is phenomenal & is quite frankly the key difference maker between success & failure.

Can't see him leaving RB anytime soon. I think that next years regulation change is so geared towards engine performance, basically an engine formula, that the aerodynamic influence or stranglehold he has over the rest, will actually be a much less significant. Simply put, if the Renault engine is inferior, then no matter how good his aerodynamic package is, it won't bring the success it has recently. That's how `huge` & uncertain this regulation change is on F1. Basically, if the Renault engine steels a march on the rest, then it`s unquestionably Vettel bagging his fifth world title. I think testing will be fascinating.

He is clearly very talented. But at Williams McLaren and red bull he is at teams with the biggest budgets around and therefore he has done what he really should have done for all the money involved. He couldn't break Schumacher and Ferrari though. So white he is great he did go over 10 years without designing a title car.

beninho wrote:He is clearly very talented. But at Williams McLaren and red bull he is at teams with the biggest budgets around and therefore he has done what he really should have done for all the money involved. He couldn't break Schumacher and Ferrari though. So white he is great he did go over 10 years without designing a title car.

Granted but was denied by Rory Byrne - another great in the art of car design. Ferrari's recipe for success was transported nearly entirely from Bennetton with Schumacher's pace, Byrne's design skills and Brawn's leadership it was a great help and couple that with Ferrari's great wealth and that made them a formidable force.

Basically it's like football and most sports the teams with the most money can pay the best staff and therefore be top teams. Guess it's been this way for longer then I have followed f1. From mid 90s.

I'd like having a great designer is like a racehorse with great breeding. It is a huge step towards having a successful team.

Whose worth more to a team? A good designer or a good driver? If Red Bull had to get rid of Newey or Vettel who would they choose to keep?

Well lets look at the drivers who have won world titles in Newey designed cars. They are Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and Seb Vettel. Of those only Alain Prost won a world title away from Newey's designs - that speaks volumes for his design skills.

More reason to realise how immense Schumacher was. Talk about joining an under-performing team, winning shedloads, and doing it away from the guy you reckon accounts for everyone else's wins!

Unparalleled.

sikhlion wrote:Whose worth more to a team? A good designer or a good driver? If Red Bull had to get rid of Newey or Vettel who would they choose to keep?

Absolute no brainer, they would keep Newey. It`s not even up for discussion.

Just read he started on a salary of $10m in 2006! He must be earning more then most drivers.

Yeah, Ron Dennis would not pay him & so he left for RB. Rest is history. He is the difference maker in the sport & therefore is well worthy of the kind of financial packages that the top drivers get.

Not sure about the length of his RB contract. It's suggested that his contract's have a 'freedom' clause, by which he can leave the sport at the end of any season, if the sporting regulations limit his design capabilities or he simply falls out of love with the sport. Not sure about that though. It was reported that he could end up leaving F1 & be instrumental in designing an Americas Cup yacht, however that never materialised.

A great article here from Adrian Newey and he speaks of greatness much like I see it:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/24358508

I think what Sebastian is well on the way to doing is establishing himself as one of the all-time greats

Exactly what all right thinking people would say.

Yeah, nobody is arguing that statement that he's on his way to 'greatness'. Fact is, there is a long road or journey, possibly away from Red Bull, that needs to be taken before he achieves that status.

sikhlion wrote:Whose worth more to a team? A good designer or a good driver? If Red Bull had to get rid of Newey or Vettel who would they choose to keep?

Well, I read recently that Newey is on a salary of over £6million a year. What's Vettel on - about £10million a year?

Think that shows it'd be a very hard decision, if they ever had to choose.

CaledonianCraig wrote:A great article here from Adrian Newey and he speaks of greatness much like I see it:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/24358508

Exactly. Here's the bit on question, for anyone who hasn't read the article:

Asked if he felt Vettel, still only 26, could match Schumacher's record of seven titles, Newey said: "Yes, of course it would be fantastic if Sebastian could go on to eclipse Michael's record. But that doesn't necessarily define greatness.

"When we talk about the all-time greats, the names of Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, they come up, as well as Michael of course, [Juan Manuel] Fangio of course, all those names jump to mind.

"Some of them have had, in terms of championships, a fraction of the success of Michael.

"So there is that intangible thing that defines greatness, which isn't simply results. And I think what Sebastian is well on the way to doing is establishing himself as one of the all-time greats."

Would disagree with him about Vettel. Seb has undoubtedly had the results, but I think he has some way to go to establish himself as "great" in the other ways that term implies.