Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey , OBE (born December 26, 1958 in Stratford-upon-Avon , Warwickshire , England ) is a British motorsport engineer and has been involved in Formula 1 for around 30 years . Since 2006, Newey has been the head of Red Bull Technology, the design department of the Formula 1 racing team Red Bull Racing . Before that, he was Technical Director for well-known teams such as Williams and McLaren and was jointly responsible for numerous successes and a total of over 100 Grand Prix victories.

Newey is considered a “design guru” in the Formula 1 scene, as racing cars he designed were mostly a guarantee of success. Since the beginning of the 1990s, his vehicles have won ten drivers 'and ten constructors' world titles as well as eight and seven runner-up titles, respectively.

Career

In 1980 Newey graduated from the University of Southampton as an aerospace engineer with honors. Immediately afterwards he began his work in motorsport, initially with the Fittipaldi team for Formula 1 and later with March as a racing engineer in the Formula 2 European Championship . In 1982 , he was in charge of Johnny Cecotto's car in the March works team, who repeatedly led the drivers' championship over the course of the season and lost the championship title to his team-mate Corrado Fabi in the last race . His very first project, the March GTP , was a very successful design that could win several races.

From 1983 he switched to the IndyCar project at March . Its 85C chassis was also very successful in the years that followed. At the end of the 1980s he became active for March in Formula 1, where he achieved some improvements in aerodynamics in particular. Here he received the rank of technical director for a Formula 1 team for the first time.

When March's successes waned in 1990 due to chronic underfunding, Newey was fired but immediately hired at Williams . There he played a key role in the successful designs in the early 1990s.

One of Newey's blackest hours was Ayrton Senna's accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix and the subsequent legal proceedings. The cause of the accident has not yet been fully clarified, and a faulty design by Newey in the steering column is repeatedly mentioned as a possible cause. He briefly considered resigning, but then stayed on in Formula 1.

In 1997 he moved to McLaren , where he was instrumental in the success of the following years.

At the beginning of 2006, Newey moved to the relatively new Red Bull Racing team as Technical Director . The team won the constructors' championship four times from 2010 to 2013 and Sebastian Vettel also achieved four world championship titles in the Red Bull during this period.

Personal racing activities

Adrian Newey is also an avid sports car collector and driver himself. He has already taken part in the Le Mans Legend races several times. In 2006 he drove a Ford GT40 , but destroyed the car and injured his finger. He later also had an accident with a Jaguar E-Type at the Goodwood Revival Meeting.

In 2007 he turned to modern car racing and became a driver in the AF Corse Team, which took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race with a Ferrari F430 . Newey and his fellow drivers finished 22nd and 4th in their class.

Personal

Newey's son Harrison Newey is a racing car driver.

statistics

Formula 1 world championship title

So far, cars designed by Newey have won ten drivers 'and ten constructors' world titles.

year	constructor	vehicle	Driver title	Design engineer title
1992	Williams	FW14B	✓	✓
1993	Williams	FW15C	✓	✓
1994	Williams	FW16		✓
1996	Williams	FW18	✓	✓
1997	Williams	FW19	✓	✓
1998	McLaren	MP4 / 13	✓	✓
1999	McLaren	MP4 / 14	✓
2010	Red Bull	RB6	✓	✓
2011	Red Bull	RB7	✓	✓
2012	Red Bull	RB8	✓	✓
2013	Red Bull	RB9	✓	✓

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement
2007	AF Corse	Ferrari 430 GT	Joe Macari	Ben Aucott	Rank 22

Web links

Commons : Adrian Newey  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official homepage of the Red Bull Racing Team

Remarks

1. ^ "British Order of Merit for Newey and Mansell" (Motorsport-Total.com on December 31, 2011)
2. ↑ Eberhard Reuß, Ferdi Kräling: Formula 2. The story from 1964 to 1984, Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3865-8 , p. 189.
3. ↑ Speedweek: Newey: New Look at Senna Fatal Accident , last accessed on November 26, 2012.
4. ^ Auto motor und sport ONLINE: Adrian Newey - Almost resigned after Senna's death , last accessed on November 26, 2012.