Who is Adrian Newey? Red Bull's departing F1 design genius
Adrian Newey is widely regarded as one of the best - if not the best - Formula 1 designers in the championship’s storied history, so it’s no surprise to see the news of his Red Bull exit create so many headlines.
But how did Newey rise to this position? What makes him so important to F1? And what are his greatest achievements? The Race has delved into Newey’s life and career to answer some of the key questions you might have about one of its behind-the-scenes legends.
Newey has been part of 13 drivers’ titles and 12 constructors’ crowns in Formula 1, a spectacular record spanning 38 years in the championship.
At the start of his career, Newey was a designer and a race engineer. As a race engineer he got to learn how to work with drivers and get the best out of them in a more people-focused job, with that role entailing setting up the car to the drivers’ liking and tweaking the car to suit each track.
These skills in working with a driver and team gave him added knowledge when he became a technical director. In the 1990s in F1, the technical director would still be the key person in designing an F1 car, before the days of sprawling teams with departments of hundreds of people feeding into a council of middle management overseeing the car's design.
