There has been much said and written about Adrian Newey across his forty plus years in F1. ‘Genius’ and ‘maverick’ are but two of the titles accorded the mild mannered Englishman and of course Newey has racked up twelve constructors’ titles during his time in F1.
Given an F1 car designer does not drive the car itself, a slightly lesser value is placed on the drivers’ championships accumulated under his reign and to this end Newey is not the standout designer some may think.
John Barnard an often underestimated F1 designer has nine constructors titles from his efforts with McLaren and Benetton together with Patrick head whose nine came at Williams where he was part of the fabric of the company.
Newey achievements most recent
Colin Chapman was an engineering genius though unfortunately did not have the longevity of a number of the names in this list. He won seven constructors titles for his Lotus team as did Rory Byrne who was the secret behind the Ferrari years and Michael Schumacher between 1999-2004.
Of course Newey stands clear of the rest of the field but there are some who believe his contributions to Red Bull in recent years had been overstated. Newey became frustrated with F1 following the introduction of the V6 turbo hybrids in 2014. The sport was now dominated by power and not aerodynamics and with Red Bull’s put put motor, Newey realised his hopes of designing a championship winning car were minimal.
Adrian was allowed to work on other projects for significant amounts of time, one being an America’s cup sailing boat design and another together with Aston Martin which became the Valkyrie. He spent more and more of his time at a home in South Africa and in 2018 relinquished the title of Red Bull Technical Director to Pierre Wasche who has held the role full time since.
Newey has worked part time since and was no longer a structured part of the Red Bull design team. He was free to come and go as he pleased and contribute where he felt his input had the greatest effect. Christian Horner too realised his racing ambitions could not depend solely on the whims of Newey and over the Red Bull built a technical team which was second to none.
Rob Marshall a big influence on Red Bull success
Many now believe the role of Rob Marshall was key to Red Bull’s success and the announcement of his departure to McLaren in May 2023 came as a shock within the Red Bull squad. Yet as is the case in all organisations, glass ceilings arise and Marshal had been offered the role in Woking of Technical Director.
Having joined in January 2024, restructure at McLaren due to the departure of David Sanchez saw Marshall’s title mysteriously switched to Chief Designer for McLaren. Yet Marshal was content with the internal shuffle and reflected on the reasons for his move from the Red Bull home he thought he would remain at until he retired.
“I think I was finding stuff a bit too easy, a bit too comfortable,” said Marshall to GPBlog. “You knew everybody, you had to get everything done. It was all a bit slick. And I’m thinking, well, you know, five, six, seven years, that’d be happier, then I retire.”Then the phone rings saying, ‘do you want to leave?’. And you’re about to say, ‘no’, and for some reason, you just can’t.”
Over the year’s Marshall had developed expertise around the rear suspension of the F1 cars together with complex carbon composite structural arrangements, which allowed vital bodywork to flex in sympathy with the aerodynamics of the car.
Red Bull’s wind tunnel secret: What is Horner hiding?
McLaren boss praises Marshall’s impact
Newey by way of contrast admitted his involvement in the all new Red Bull ground effect cars had been limited to the front end, including the suspension and anti dive systems together with the aerodynamics around the front wing and the tyres.
It is in no way a coincidence, that McLaren began the 2024 season disappointingly again. Just two podiums in the first five races saw them with half the points of the Red Bull team who were leading the title race. Yet come Miami something changed, and despite Lando Norris claiming his maiden victory in F1 due to a fortunately timed safety car, it was clear the MCL38 was now a different beast.
Marshal had been with McLaren for four months and the first big upgrade the team brought to their 2024 car had his fingerprints all over it. The rear suspension was more complainant which made for impressively small amounts of tyre degradation when compared to the previous iteration of the MCL38.
Team boss Andreas Stella has praised the contribution Marshall has brought to the McLaren effort saying: “Rob came with a wealth of experience and knowledge from a technical point of view and with a reputation. I have to say that working with him, myself, the other technical directors, the entire technical team if anything, we have been impressed even more than what we expected.
Newey no guarantee of future success
“It is because of these qualities, like the knowledge of how you design a car, especially from a car layout point of view, this is very important for 2025 and for 2026, and we missed this role at McLaren before.”
Max Verstappen has also noted the influence of Marshall at McLaren. “Yeah, I do think he is making the difference there,” Verstappen said. “Once he joined you could see that clearly.”
Red Bull are hoping a new technical directive coming in round nine at the Circuit de Catalunya will hamper some of the fine work from Marshall on the flexible elements of the rear of the McLaren car. Meanwhile Adrian Newey has locked himself away in his design office at Aston Martin and he, unlike Marshall when joining McLaren, is refusing to have any involvement with this years poorly performing AMR25.
Newey is getting on a bit and there’s no guarantee he’ll find the keys to success for Aston Martin. He has not been the captain of the ship which designs an F1 car for almost a decade and it was the unsung heroes like Marshall who were doing excellent work during his time at Red Bull, all under the banner of the genius of Newey.
Mercedes defeated in F1 2026 engine row
Stroll Rage: ‘I pay [Newey] 33 million and he ignores 2025’
Stroll fears for Aston Martin investment as Newey ignores 2025 efforts – Lawrence Stroll’s heavy investment in Aston Martin’s Formula One project is looking increasingly precarious as internal tensions within the team escalate. The source of the growing unrest is none other than Adrian Newey, the renowned engineering mastermind who, despite being paid an eye-watering $33 million a year, has effectively abandoned the development of the 2025 car to focus entirely on the 2026 project.
For Stroll, who has invested huge sums and staked his reputation on making Aston Martin a force in F1, the situation is both infuriating and deeply concerning… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
Would that be MARTIN Brundle you mentioned several times, or ALEX Brundle, Martin’s son?
Why do you consider the Aston Martin engine to be “underpowered” when they are using the same Mercedes engine as several other F1 teams? As for Adrian Newey’s refusal to work on the current AM F1 car, it’s very likely that he realises that it’s dog and doesn’t want to sully his reuputation by being associated with it – as the old saying goes “you can’t polish a turd”!