Last Updated on December 30 2023, 1:12 pm

Legendary Formula One designers are few and far between with probably five in 74 years who stand out from the crowd. Colin Chapman was the first real design guru of the sport with his lightweight monocoque cars and being the one who saw in the modern era of F1 aerodynamics.

Gordon Murray form South Africa came to the fore during the 1970’s and 80’s and at both Brabham and McLaren he was responsible for designing several chassis that would go on to become classics.

 

 

 

Other great F1 designers

The Brabham BT46B “Fan Car” and McLaren MP4/4 are iconic with the latter being considered for decades, the greatest of all time winning 15 of 16 races in 1988. Another of Murray’s key innovations was carbon. Brakes initially used on the McLaren MP4/5 in 1989 and it wasn’t long before these became the industry standard and are used widely in auto manufacturing today.

John Barnard went from making light bulbs to designing a title-winning McLaren in the 1970s and became a true innovator in his F1 career.

Teaming up with Ron Dennis at McLaren, he introduced the carbon fibre monocoque and the ‘coke bottle’ rear end in some of the most attractive, innovative and dominant cars of the mid-1980s. He also was responsible for the Michael Schumacher Ferrari’s which carried the German to five consecutive world titles something even Lewis Hamilton never achieved.

Another South African Rory Burn was part of the Schumacher success story. A chemist with no engineering training began with unfashionable Toleman then after moving to Benetton was a key part of the Ferrari duchess story as the team won six consecutive constructor championships.

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McLaren disillusion Red Bull’s opportunity

Then came Adrian Newey who now is regarded by many to be the greatest engineer Formula One has ever seen. He has won 12 constructors titles with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull and designed 13 cars which went on to carry their drivers to world championship glory.

Having become disillusioned at McLaren, Newey was persuaded to join the embryonic Red Bull team in 2006. Just five years later his F1 cars won four consecutive driver and team titles though there advent of the new engine Formula saw Red Bull uncompetitive for years with Renault power.

Then with the new ground effect regulations coming into force in 2022, Newey came into his own again. His university these had been on the very topic of ground effect aerodynamics and his latest creation the RB19 is now statistically the most dominant car in F1 history winning 21 of 22 races with a win percentage of 95.45% – even better than the MP4/4. 

Over the years other teams have tried to poach Newey away from his work in Milton Keynes and recently on a podcast Eddie Jordan asked Newey about his opportunities within F1 and said: “Is going to Ferrari ever on your agenda or could you ever see that happening and if not, I’d like to know how many times you’ve been approached by Ferrari and by whom?”

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Ferrari approached Newey 3 times

Newey candidly replied: “Well, it’s funny isn’t it because Ferrari is this magic brand that in all honesty everybody in motor racing is always fascinated by and tempted to join if offered the opportunity.

“I’ve been approached [by Ferrari] and come close three times now, one of those in IndyCars [1985] way back.”

Yet Ferrari never achieved their goal of recruiting the now greatest F1 engineer of all time and probably never will.

The phenomenal season Red Bull have just had with the RB19 may never be beaten despite two more races coming to the calendar for next year. Yet Christian Horner is now keen to point out that his star engineer has been building and training his protege for some time and much of the RB19 was little to do with Newey.

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“Not reliant on Adrian” says Horner

While there are no plans at present for Adrian to step away, Horner believes his team are ready for life beyond Newey who was 65 years old on Boxing Day. While he plays a key role in the Red Bull design process Horner reveals he no longer has the level of influence on the day to day work as he once did.

Technical director Pierre Wache now plays the leading role as Horner begins to prepare for life beyond Newey.

“Adrian is a big part of this team and big part of what we’ve achieved but, of course, his role has evolved over the last few years and the technical team beneath him led by Pierre Wache, they’re doing a wonderful job and so that they’re not reliant on Adrian,” he told motorsport.com

”He [Newey] has the ability to come in, come out and work on other projects and I think that’s part of the evolution of any team,” adds Horner indicating he intends to build a Red Bull dynasty not dependent on the great man.

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2026 new regulations will be the test

To illustrate his point, Horner compared the situation to one of football’s great dynasties.

“I was always a big fan of Manchester United, not as a Man United fan, but of Alex Ferguson, they had [Eric] Cantona and then they just evolved. Red Bull is a team that, we’re stronger for having Adrian with us, but of course the rest of the team is evolving.”

Of course Horner’s example is somewhat flawed given the success for United pretty much ended the day Ferguson retired. And despite the confidence Horner exudes in his technical team, the proof of the pudding will be when Newey is no longer involved at Red Bull.

Of course with the team declaring their 2024 F1 car will be an evolution from the RB19, then little more than a light touch from Newey should be required to deliver another strong challenger for the coming season.

The real test for Red Bull’s emerging technical team will be in 2026, when the car specifications will again change significantly with the inclusion of further moveable aero components banned for decades with the exception of DRS.

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