Adrian Newey

Formula 1 employee

Vital statistics for Adrian Newey
Nationality	GBR
Position	Chief technical officer
Team	Red Bull Racing

As Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull Racing since 2005, Adrian Newey has turned the team around from a midfield marque to a quadruple championship-winning outfit. His clever work with a pencil, and ability to read between the regulation lines, has allowed the Red Bull cars to reign supreme for many seasons. However, after the 2014 rules clamped down on how much design was available, Newey confirmed he would be stepping back from Formula One to concentrate on other interests.

Biography

Adrian Newey attended Southampton University, where he studied Aeronautics and Astronautics. His thesis on the ground-effects principle caught the attention of the Formula One paddock, and he joined the Fittipaldi team soon after graduating. He moved to the March squad, employed as a race engineer for their Formula 2 project. He moved up to a design role with March’s IndyCar team, helping to create a title-winning car on his first attempt.

After a brief stint away from March, Newey was back with the team and pushing them back into Formula One. Now at the technical director level, he joined Williams for the 1991 season, producing cars that took five Constructor’s titles. He continued to bring titles to McLaren, when he moved there in the late ‘90s, with three more constructor trophies coming his way. Having won with very successful teams, Newey started hunting for a new challenge, and joined the newly coined Red Bull Racing.

He moved to the Austrian squad ahead of the 2006 season, with his influence not being felt until 2007. The team’s first victory came in 2009, with German superstar Sebastian Vettel on board. Red Bull finished second in the championship that year, but turned it into victory for 2010. The following four seasons were just as successful, with 2011 in particular showing supreme dominance with Vettel winning 11 of 19 races, only finishing off the podium twice.

As well as designing the best motorsport has to offer, Newey has also tried his hand behind the wheel, participating in the endurance racing of Le Mans, the hill climbs at Goodwood and more. For 2015 and beyond, Newey confirmed that he would be focusing more on his interests outside Formula One, concerned by the lack of flexibility in the rules for encouraging design and thinking outside the box.

Filed under Formula 1 employees

Date	Title
22/02/2016	The blind side
01/02/2015	Red Bull rock Jerez with psychedelic test livery
01/07/2014	June 2014 recap - Solitary summer solidarity
07/03/2014	Take five - The Red Bull challenge
18/02/2014	F1 teams get set for testing in Bahrain
27/12/2013	Statistically speaking
27/10/2013	Sebastian Vettel - Four time Formula One World Champion
18/09/2013	Long service award
02/07/2013	Pirelli: Teams to blame for tyre failures
30/06/2013	Mercedes see Silverstone success despite tyre troubles - Britain 2013

Date	Title
11/03/2013	The best of the best

Related news

Date	Title
10/06/2014	Red Bull and McLaren agree to disagree over Dan Fallows
09/06/2014	Adrian Newey to remain with Red Bull but step back from Formula One
13/10/2013	McLaren sign Red Bull’s chief aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou
02/09/2013	Daniel Ricciardo is confirmed as Red Bull’s driver for 2014
03/02/2013	Red Bull Racing unveil the RB9 at Milton Keynes
25/11/2012	Sebastian Vettel wins the 2012 F1 World Championship
06/02/2012	Defending champions Red Bull launch the RB8
31/12/2011	Adrian Newey and Nigel Mansell make New Year Honours list
22/06/2009	Ferrari and Red Bull realistic on performance
15/06/2009	Le Mans recap and Silverstone memories

Mentions during live coverage

Date	Update
20/02/2017	Another interesting preview video from Red Bull, this time talking to the people that made the car, the engineers!Adrian Newey, who clearly can't quite let go of F1 as much as he keeps saying he wants to, has this to add: "Here we are in the middle of February and it's that feeling of... well, it's exhaustion towards the end of the season for many of the guys, but then you go through the winter, you do your work and it's time to think 'yep, now I just want to get going again, to get out on the circuit and see where we are'."
24/08/2014	Adrian Newey heads to the green room to be the RBR representative. Ricciardo asks some questions of Rosberg and Bottas. "Finish on prime?" he asks. Or maybe "Finnish on prime?"
08/06/2014	Adrian Newey who earlier announced he's stepping back from the sport at some point in the future, talks to Martin Brundle on the grid. "I had a great time in Formula 1, it's time to try some different things"He'll be involved in developing next year's Red Bull car, but probably not much beyond that.
25/05/2014	Adrian Newey: "We’ve just got to run our own race and take advantage of any opportunities that arise. I think Daniel was slightly disappointed after qualifying, with Sebastian we had a problem that cost him some lap time. We came out of qualifying slightly disappointed but nobody’s done race pace here yet, so we don’t know where we stand in a race situation."
06/04/2014	Adrian Newey eyeing up other cars on the grid: “There’s a large variety of ideas out there, it would be very arrogant not to see what everybody’s up to. I questioned some of the changes that are happening, that’s my personal opinion. Formula One’s a fantastic sport, isn’t it? How could I not be excited? I don’t think carrying a penalty for what was ultimately human error… to carry that over to here seems a bit unjust.”
05/04/2014	Asked by the BBC for his take on the new F1 engine regulations, Red Bull's chief technical officer Adrian Newey was less convinced by the need for change."I like lightweight and efficiency, and these regulations have created cars that are exceptionally complicated, quite a lot heavier. Complication and weight is an expense, if it brings something that's absolutely fantastic, but I do believe that should be debated."Trade the cost of the power-unit versus the cost of making the car lighter or more aerodynamic or whatever. So I think it's questionable."
29/03/2014	Adrian Newey: "Our straight line speed is not very strong, so these weather conditions probably suit us. We had a good outing in the wet in Melbourne with Daniel. If it's as wet as this, they'll probably have to delay qualifying."They're very different cars, and we had very little time to sort it out, we didn't get very much testing done on the dyno before the first test, which is where you get to sort out all the problems before going out in the public eye. The problem was a local heat problem on our side... it takes a bit of time to sort it out. It wasn't a huge problem, it just took time. When the tests come that fast and quick it's embarrassing to know you have a solution but can't get it on the car yet."Where we are the moment, it's very much an engine formula, which means it's in the hands of the engine supplier."
28/01/2014	A side on view of the nose. Red Bull have painted this so its full impact is hard to gather, but it looks quite shark-fin-esque and very pointy. Adrian Newey has admitted that the new noses aren't what the FIA had in mind and could be just as dangerous as before. "If you hit the back of the car square on, then you go underneath it and end up under the rear crash structure, which I think is a much worse scenario."