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Newey on difficult year with Verstappen F1 2021

Newey looks back at seasons with Red Bull: 'Most difficult of my career'

16 August at 16:00
  • Nicole Mulder

Adrian Newey started in Formula 1 almost 45 years ago, but the top designer has never had a tougher year than 2021, when Max Verstappen won his first world title. The designed explained why that is on Red Bull Racing's Talking Bull podcast.

Newey on 2021: 'Hardest of my career'

In the podcast, Newey discusses both highlights and challenges in his long F1 career. For instance, he also talks about his decision to swap the McLaren team for Red Bull, a year after the team debuted. "I thought, well, it's a big challenge. It's a huge career risk, but one I feel up for. And so when I started, really, it was with the aspiration and hope that at some point we could win a race," he said.

"So kind of when we won that first - well, we won the race with Sebastian in his Toro Rosso in Monza in 2008 - in China was in 2009 was quite a landmark. And then and then going on to that last race in Abu Dhabi. 2010 and winning the championship against the odds with Sebastian's drive that that weekend and Ferrari's mistake on the strategy. That was that was something I'll never forget," Newey continued.

After winning four world titles in a row, a difficult period followed the start of the hybrid era. "Then we had to do work and stuff, but managed to manage to keep going and got that one and then, of course, 2021, which is, I think will be talked about for many years. Forever, probably. Yeah. And it was, I think of all my years in motor racing, that was the most difficult year," the master designer concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi