The worst kept secret of the past couple of weeks is finally out. Adrian Newey is to become a technical managing partner, shareholder and the best paid engineer in the history of motorsport. The announcement he is joining Formula One team Aston Martin speaks volumes about the man’s motivation together with the fact he know’s a reliable engine partner is a must.

Once the most private of individuals in the paddock has released a flurry of interviews as if its time for Newey to get matters off his chest.

Adrian has made it that plain he became bored at Red Bull, his job was part time (180 days a year) with the rest of the year spent at his second home in South Africa. Initial reasons given for him leaving Red Bull by the F1 guru designer was he like Forest Gump was “tired” and he suggested it was time to go on holiday with his wife and dogs.

 

 

 

Newey was ‘tired’ but no longer

Now the rhetoric has turned to “seeking new challenges” given the confidence that Red Bull is a “mature” team and will cope well without him – we’ll see. The death of Didi Mateschitz who was the driving force and funds behind Red Bull Racing hit Newey hard and the subsequent infighting for control of the F1 outfit Newey admitted had affected his decision to stay.

Now F1’s greatest ever design talent has another father figure at the helm, Lawrence Stroll is ploughing huge investment into Aston Martin and is the cultural figure head within the Silverstone based team. 

“I have been hugely inspired and impressed by the passion and commitment that Lawrence brings to everything he is involved with. Lawrence is determined to create a world-beating team. He is the only majority team owner who is actively engaged in the sport. His commitment is demonstrated in the development of the new AMR Technology Campus and wind tunnel at Silverstone, which are not only state-of-the-art but have a layout that creates a great environment to work in,” Newey revealed yesterday.

And Newey is Aston Martin’s best hope of winning F1 titles before the end of the decade.

McLaren’s problem revealed: Piastri has “No.1” clause

 

 

 

Mercedes/Red Bull visceral animosity

Adrian also decided to revisit the times of visceral animosity between the Red Bull Racing and Mercedes Benz teams. Thistle has been typified in exchanges between Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, the most vociferous in recent times was their clash over the new ground effect 2022 car design regulations and the Mercedes’ horribly bouncing car.

By Austria in 2022, Toto Wolff was on a propaganda mission to persuade the FIA to intervene on safety grounds to change the car set up and ride height rules. The W13 car appeared the worst of the new ground effect cars in the sphere of bouncing and Wolff was predicting doom and terror ahead for the drivers unless his co-team principals agreed to get something done.

“I can tell you that all of you are playing a dangerous game,” Wolff said. “If a car ends [up] in the wall because it is too stiff or it’s bottoming out, you are in the shit and I’m going to come after you.”

Horner fired back at Wolff: “Are we playing to the cameras here? I think this is probably better off-camera.” Netflix DTS cameras were present for the F1 team bosses meeting.

Close friend of Verstappen says NO to Ferrari

 

 

 

Horner rebuts Wolff’s demands

Wolff responded: “No, I don’t care. If you think this is a little game on performance, I’ll tell you, you are very, very wrong.”

Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto, who has since departed the Maranello-based squad, quipped that “safety is a matter of team responsibility”, to which Wolff responded sarcastically: “Each of you has found something to limit the problem, congratulations!”

Horner then raised his voice at Wolff and exclaimed: ”Well change your car. You’ve got a problem. Change your fucking car.”

The history between Wolff and Horner, Mercedes and Red Bull lies in the fact Toto Wolff inherited a team ready made to win eight consecutive constructor titles and in some way is seen as a Johnny come lately to F1.

The reason Newey finally left Red Bull

 

 

 

Hamilton “Robbed” narrative

Further during their early years of dominance Wolff new to F1 appeared unable to be magnanimous in victory and gracious in victory.

This culminated in the events of 2021 in Abu Dhabi, where Max Verstappen overtook and beat Lewis Hamilton to the chequered flag and with it his first world drivers’ championship. Hamilton of course was denied a record eighth title.

The bitterness around the events which created the last lap shootout appeared to affect Mercedes and Hamilton long after the F1 teams had hunkered down for winter.

 The end of the race led to widespread controversy, with many believing Hamilton was “robbed” of a record-breaking eighth title.

Insider: “Liam Lawson will partner Tsunoda at RB…”

 

 

 

Newey questions Mercedes’ attitude

Red Bull also received some criticism despite playing no role in Masi’s decision, other than pressuring him to get the race back underway behind the Safety Car.

Speaking to the high performance podcast, Newey is critical of Mercedes’ and Lewis Hamilton’s response which involved skipping mandatory FIA gala’s and presenting the facts of the matter as though Lewis Hamilton was “robbed.”

“I think it got to Mercedes,” Newey explains. “Instead of saying ‘OK, we will accept it and move on’ it started to affect their psyche which is an interesting one.”

Adrian admits this is his ‘outsiders’ perspective but their are few secrets in the F1 paddock.

Big trouble looms for Verstappen

 

 

 

“Couldn’t let it go psychologically”

“They couldn’t let it go psychologically. If you have a bad race, perhaps you should have won and the bloody thing broke down on the last lap or whatever. I always had a personal issue. I will be horrible to be around any airport on that Sunday evening but come Monday morning I need to wake up and be back on it.”

“I can’t go into the factory all miserable and downbeat. Part of my position I suppose is to help and hopefully motivate everybody not saying it’s ‘so unfair, we were robbed’. It doesn’t help, does it?”

This is in stark contrast to Lewis Hamilton’s continued petulance following the Mercedes’ disastrous W13/14 cars. He demanded people within the team “listen to me”and become accountable for their failures. A few weeks later technical director Mike Ellis left his position.

All hope for Schumacher lost

 

 

 

Verstappen unfased

Conversely Newey reveals how all the talk about Hamilton being “robbed” impacted Max Verstappen. “Max is so self-assured. This is in a positive way, not a negative way. There’s arrogance and there’s self-assured. He’s not arrogant but he’s self assured, self confident.

“He’s a deep-thinker but he doesn’t let things like that…  I don’t think they really get to him. He’s able to shut that off and get on with that job, doing what he loves doing which is driving racing cars.” 

Max is certainly having to adopt the Newey approach of ‘Monday morning’ back to work after the weekends disappointment having now completed the last six race weekends without a win.

Despite McLaren now having the quickest car and a top class driver pairing, the drivers’ title is still favourite to land in Max’s hands unless Lando Norris is to pull of one of the greatest comebacks in F1 history.

Mercedes unleash on Hamilton move

 

 

 

Newey: “There was arrogance at Red Bull”

Adrian Newey reflects on Red Bull’s arrogance and how he changed the team’s mentality – Red Bull Racing is about to suffer a significant loss with the departure of Adrian Newey, its long-time Chief Technical Officer and the driving force behind its immense success in Formula One.

But the impact of his departure goes beyond his technical genius and experience in the sport. Newey’s influence has fundamentally changed the culture of the team, shifting its mentality to one more in line with his meticulous and creative approach to car design and performance.

The change wasn’t immediate. When Newey joined Red Bull in 2006, the team’s mindset was very different. His reflections on the change in attitude at Red Bull provide a rare insight into the development of this successful partnership. Now, with his imminent move to Aston Martin, it provides a moment to not only look forward, but to look back at how Red Bull Racing has evolved under his leadership… READ MORE