Most of the headlines in Formula 1 motorsport are generated by the drivers: winning races, changing teams or gushing about their rivals or their latest hobby or girlfriend.
But now, almost thirty years after being deeply involved in sport’s greatest modern tragedy, a British figure has been catapulted from his shadow into the spotlight.
Adrian Newey, 65, is revered in racing. As a designer, he is also called ‘The Wind Whisperer’ because of his aerodynamic skills that have propelled several teams to victory, including the current world champion Red Bull. These days, however, it is widely reported that he has told Red Bull he wants to “move on”, possibly unsettled by the off-track controversy engulfing the team and its director, Christian Horner.
Only once before has he come to the attention of an audience outside F1 fans, in connection with the death of superstar driver Ayrton Senna almost exactly thirty years ago.
The Brazilian multiple world champion died on May 1, 1994 as a result of a crash during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in a Williams car designed in part by Newey, who was then a young man still establishing his reputation. “People ask me if I feel guilty about Ayrton. I do that,” Newey wrote in his autobiography. “I was one of the senior officers on a team that designed a car that killed a great man.”
After the crash, Newey was prosecuted in Italy along with other Williams team members and ultimately acquitted. But it was a long and worrying process, and the traumatic events of that day stayed with him for many years to come. “One driver was killed in a car I designed,” Newey wrote. ‘Ayrton. That fact weighs heavily on me.”
The designer was born on Boxing Day 1958 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was a veterinarian and his mother had driven ambulances during World War II. He was educated at Repton public school, where a fellow pupil was the pupil Top gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson; but Newey was asked to leave after an incident at a school concert in which he dramatically adjusted the sound system’s gain levels upwards, with shattering results for old stained glass windows.
Through a technical college he went to Southampton University, where he obtained a first-class degree in aeronautics, and soon after found himself working for one of the lesser Formula 1 teams.
He didn’t stay at the back of the grid for long, moving first to March and then to Williams, where despite the tragedy of Senna’s death he contributed to multiple race victories and world championships. Newey went on to success at McLaren in 1997 and joined Red Bull in 2006. In total, to date, he has designed cars that have won a total of 25 Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships, and more than 200 individual Grands. price.
Those figures certainly seem to be increasing again this year, now that Red Bull is dominant on the circuit. Outside of that, however, the team has been torn by controversy surrounding its director, Christian Horner, who was accused of controlling and coercive behavior by a female employee earlier this year.
He strongly denied the allegations, with the employee’s complaint dismissed following an internal investigation carried out by a specialist lawyer. The woman in question has appealed this ruling, and an employment tribunal is likely to follow if her appeal is unsuccessful.
This has diverted attention from the extraordinary achievements of Newey and his design team, whose latest creation, the Red Bull RB20, seemed virtually unstoppable in the hands of reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
While Verstappen uses his brainchild to devastating effect on the track, Newey plays a less prominent role in public; although he is often present on race weekends, he is usually seen in the background, a close-cropped and stubbly figure prowling the starting grid with a clipboard in hand, always alert to the slightest design tweak to rivals’ cars, or among the technicians sits on the pit wall during the race and mumbles tactical advice into his headset microphone.
If the drivers and Horner, who is married to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, may seem more glamorous, Newey is no bloodless technocrat. Not only does he like to design fast cars, he also likes to drive and race them.
In the heat of battle he caused very expensive damage to two classic sports cars, a Ford GT40 at the Le Mans Classic and a Jaguar E-Type at the Goodwood Revival meeting. He suffered no more than a cut finger in the incidents, although he was briefly hospitalized after a crash during a sports car race at Snetterton in 2010.
Nor does he limit himself to elegant vehicles such as classic sports cars – he has competed creditably against professional drivers in contemporary sports cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and demonstrated with verve one of his own high-tech Formula 1 creations, the Red Bull RB5 , at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Newey has been married three times and has four children. Harrison, his son by his second wife Marigold, has competed in single-seaters and sports cars without ever rising to the highest levels of the sport.
As his 70s loom on the horizon, Newey could be forgiven for wanting to spend more time with his family – and his car collection. But the lure of a new challenge may prove too tempting. Perhaps at Ferrari, Formula 1’s most celebrated team, where the budgets and the admiration of the Italian public are equally limitless. After all, Newey is said to earn around £15 million a year at Red Bull, more than all the top drivers on the Formula 1 grid.
Aston Martin, a British-based team with a great heritage hungry for the contemporary performance to match, could be another candidate. Like Ferrari, it also has a stable of road cars that could benefit from Newey’s input. Because although wind tunnels and automated analyzes are now standard in the sport, it is Newey’s vision that has given teams the edge, decade after decade.
There is no doubt about the high regard he is held in. “I think Adrian is a unicorn,” declared Aston Martin owner, billionaire Lawrence Stroll. “He is very special, he may exist one day.”