Adrian Newey: The man behind Williams, McLaren and Red Bull constructors’ championships – Formula 1
If we look at the history of Formula 1, it is evident that the best cars have won the championships and the drivers sitting in it get the credit for handling the V12, V10 or V8 machines. Champions like Ayrton Senna, Mika Häkkinen, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher waited for the best cars and then won championships by putting their experience and skills behind the wheel of the fastest machines on the grid.
After 2000, almost all the world champions had the best car on the grid to storm their way towards victory despite the competition getting tough in the latter part of the era. Most commonly, Lewis Hamilton’s and Kimi Raikkonen’s driver’s titles were a close shave, yet they had the fastest cars to help them toy around with the field and claim their titles.
So, one thing is for sure, the best car brings the best driver and as far as building the best cars in the world is concerned, Adrian Newey is a name that cannot be left out. The British Aeronautics engineer, Newey, builds super fast and reliable cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull team, which have won constructor’s championships in recent times.
Apart from Formula 1, Newey has great success in Indycar racing, where he has won many titles as aerodynamicist, designer, technical director and race engineer.
Newey joined the Williams team to kick off his Formula 1 designer’s campaign. Newey designed FW14 cars were better than the previous versions of Williams’ car and were highly competitive with the likes of McLaren at that time.
In 1992, Newey designed car won the title under Nigel Mansell and the Brit won his first constructor’s title. In 1993 Alain Prost won the driver’s title driving Newey’s masterpiece.
However, after the death of Ayrton Senna while driving a Williams’ car, the relations between the team and Newey began to falter. Although Williams’ team won the third straight constructor’s title that year, Newey was removed from his place and given a seat where he was away from car design.
By the end of 1996, Newey joined McLaren as a designer and the titles began to flow. In 1997, Newey was given the task of improving the design of the previously built cars by Neil Oatley. After a four month gap, the MP4- 13 became the fastest car on the grid.
Victories began to come easily as Newey’s McLaren car won the constructors’ title in the 1998 season with a driver’s title in 1999. With six constructor’s titles and 65 wins, Newey career took a downfall soon after 2000.
From 1992 onwards Newey’s designer market monopoly was challenged by Ferrari’s designer Rory Byrne. Rory designed Ferrari’s won five straight titles from 2000 to 2004 with Michael Schumacher, while Newey struggled with five drivers in his quest to snatch a championship title.
His position at McLaren was becoming highly unstable and after the 2005 season, it was thought that Newey would leave the sport completely.
Instead, Red Bull team owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, saw a fatherly figure in Newey for his debut season and signed the Brit for a contract worth $10 million per year. Newey failed to promote the Red Bull car up the grid for three consecutive seasons from 2006 to 2008.
For 2009, Red Bull was a completely different car which showed good pace and reliability. Sebastian Vettel was able to become the youngest Formula 1 runners up that season and Newey began to show his value at the company.
In 2010, Newey’s cars were 1 to 3 in the final standings and Red Bull won both championships that year. After 2010, Newey’s car have won seven constructor’s titles and 80 Grand Prixs in total.
For 2011, he is still with the Red Bull team and his car, RB7, has won the first six of the eight races so far. There is no doubt in Newey’s capability and his mechanical brain that makes everything he touches turn to gold.
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