Who is F1 Adrian Newey? The F1 master designer

Newey's journey into F1

Adrian Newey was born in Colchester, Essex, England, on 26 December 1958. He attended school with motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson, and immediately after graduating from university in 1980, he began working in motorsport. He first started working for the Fittipaldi Formula One team, but a year later, after a short period working as a race engineer in European Formula 2, the Brit began to design cars.

His first design was the March GTP sports car, which was a hugely successful design, winning the IMSA GTP title for two years consecutively, highlighting the skill that Newey had in car design. In 1984 he moved to March's Indycar project, winning more trophies and titles in the two years he worked there, including the Indy 500 title. After that, the F1 world took notice of Newey, and he then moved to the pinnacle of motorsport.

Newey's early F1 adventures

After two years as a race engineer in 1986 and 1987, Newey was rehired by March to become their chief designer in 1988. March/Leyton House were far more competitive than expected, and that meant the Brit gained a promotion to take the role of technical director. However, after a promising start to the 1990 season, results declined, and Newey was fired. However, he was quickly approached by Williams, and he joined the British team.

At Williams, Newey worked there from 1991-1996, and his work alongside Patrick Head meant the two of them were a force to be reckoned with. In 1992, their design allowed Nigel Mansell to win the 1992 World Championship, and Newey also won his first constructors' championship, which was quickly followed by a second in 1993 and 1994, respectively. 

However, cracks began to show in the relationship between Newey and Williams, and although Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve both earned titles for the team, the designer was placed on gardening leave before he joined McLaren. There, he helped Mika Hakkinen win world titles in 1998 and 1999. However, a few years later, in 2005, Newey looked to be taking a sabbatical and retiring from F1 completely. But in 2006, he joined Red Bull.

Newey shows his greatness at Red Bull

After joining in 2006, Newey had very little input during his first year. However, after a couple more years of slight improvement from the team, the regulation change in 2009 showed a Newey-designed Red Bull vastly improve, coming behind the surprise package of Jenson Button and BrawnGP.

However, in 2010, the titles started to come for Newey and Red Bull. The RB6 designed by Newey was the class of the field, and it allowed Sebastian Vettel to become the youngest-ever World Champion in Formula 1 history. Newey also became the only F1 designer to have won constructors' titles with three different teams.

Three more titles in a row came for Vettel thanks to Newey's designs, including nine consecutive wins for the German in 2013. Constructors' titles in 2011, 2012 and 2013 also were added to the many accolades of Newey. 2014 then saw hybrid engines come into the sport, and the performance of the Renault engines used by Red Bull meant Newey's car could not fight for titles. However, between 2014-2020, apart from 2015, Red Bull still took at least two Grand Prix wins.

But once again, the greatness of Newey prevailed. In 2021, Red Bull had a car capable of winning titles, giving Max Verstappen his first F1 title after a titanic battle with Lewis Hamilton in 2021. 2022 and 2023 saw drivers' titles to Verstappen once again, and Red Bull eased to constructors' titles, with the 2023 RB19, designed by Newey once again, being one of the most dominant F1 cars in history, having a win rate of 95.45%.

In 2023, Verstappen gave Red Bull its 100th win in F1, and that also marked 200 wins for Newey in his F1 career. However, a year later, tensions in Red Bull rose, and that meant interest grew for Newey in leaving Red Bull, which he did. He left the F1 operations of Red Bull after the first quarter of the 2024 season, and after finishing their hypercar project, he will leave the Austrian team at the end of 2024.

Where will Newey end up next?

 There have been a lot of questions surrounding the future of Newey since his departure from F1. Newry said that we wanted to take some time away from the sport in 2024 and not jump straight back into it, and he has been enjoying his time off since his departure from Red Bull.

There was talk that the designer would not return to F1. There was also talk that he would join Ferrari alongside Hamilton for the 2025 season to help achieve his eighth drivers' title. However, after the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, the rumour are that the master designer will join Aston Martin in 2025, to join Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll and bring success to the British team.