Adrian Newey wrote his memoirs some time ago. They were highly praised everywhere and the cultural magazine New Yorker even awarded him the title "The Michelangelo of Motorsports" in a review, which Pantauro-Verlag immediately adopted on the book cover for its German edition.
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The book contains 417 pages. It is a reading book, as the text is interrupted only in a few places by a few photos and a series of technical sketches. Newey proudly presents his record: 10 World Constructors’ Championships and 154 victories in the rounds of the FIA World Automobile Championship and the CART PPG Indy Car World Series were won by the cars he was in charge of as engineer up to 2014. One could add that five drivers on Newey’s cars became world champions a total of nine times.
But is such a book about modern Formula 1 at all interesting for old- and youngtimer freaks? I would say yes, because Adrian Newey is the bridge between the "good old days" and today. He can well be seen as the successor of Colin Chapman, whom he just experienced but never spoke to. When turbo engines were banned from 1989 onwards, he already had the new technical paradigm, which was to dominate the following ten years, on the race track with the March 881. With this car, he drew the consequences from the flat underbody that had become obligatory, the ban on skirts and the limited performance of naturally aspirated engines compared to turbocharged engines. It wasn’t enough to win a Grand Prix, but Ivan Capelli’s second place in the 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix behind Alain Prost in a Honda-turbo McLaren and other good placings made the 881 the best sucker resp. Non-Turbo.
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It was this concept that Adrian Newey developed further at Williams from 1990 onwards. In the 1991 to 1997 seasons, the team achieved no less than five Constructors’ World Championship titles and finished second on two occasions. Just as Colin Chapman regularly defined the valid technical paradigm in Formula 1 between 1960 and 1980, so Adrian Newey has done since 1988.
Adrian Newey – the ambitious rebel
His father was a car nut. From him he got the love for cars and tinkering. He characterizes his mother as a hippie with a great creative energy.
He was not interested in school. Girls, booze and bikes were his purpose in life, Newey writes of his youth. He flunks out of school, but still wants to be a race car designer.
When a colleague explained to him (obviously convincingly) that he would never be considered for such a position without a university degree, he changed his attitude. He managed to get into the University of Southampton. He studied aeronautical engineering there because that was the course of study in which lightweight construction and aerodynamics were taught as subjects, i.e. those disciplines that are of crucial importance in the construction of racing cars. By his own admission he had to work hard for this degree. In the process, he acquired the ability to concentrate on one thing, "focus", which he still considers one of his strengths today.
His final thesis consequently did not deal with airplanes, but with the aerodynamic design of a sports car. He received the highest score.
This is the content of the first part of the book, which has been aptly titled "At the Start. He styles himself as a creative, ambitious rebel who achieves top performance when he wants to and when he is interested in it. Probably not entirely coincidentally, it is the longest part in the book at all.
Adrian Newey’s career as a race car builder from 1980 onwards
His first job is that of assistant to Harvey Postlethwaite, the technical director in Emerson Fittipaldi’s Formula 1 team, the Skol Fittipaldi Team. After Fittipaldi was finished just two years later, he went to March, first as a race engineer in the Formula 2 team and from 1983 as the engineer responsible for the American IMSA GTP racing sports cars.
Robin Herd promoted him to chief designer of the Indy Monopostos from summer 1983, nota bene after only 3 years in the business. At the same time, Newey also acted as race engineer, first for Bobby Rahal, then for Michael and Mario Andretti. A next, short excursion (parallel to his involvement in CART) into Formula 1 to the Beatrice team of Teddy Mayer and Carl Haas lasted only six months until the end of 1986.
From July 1987 his real career in Formula 1 begins with Robin Herd taking over the technical responsibility for the March Formula 1 of the Leyton House team. His first car is the 881 already mentioned above for the 1988 season.
In his book, he divides his career as a race car builder into so-called "rounds", which are named after his most important constructions under the title "How to build a [March 83G, March 86C, …, Williams 14, …]?". The following table gives an overview of his rounds and "his" 10 world championship titles as well as 154 race victories:
The author’s own research. The values in brackets in column (f) are not included in the calculation of race wins.
Adrian Newey – the designer
The most important expression of Newey’s creativity can be seen in his interpretation of the regulations and the derivation of the optimal concept for next season’s Formula 1. Of course this concept is primarily determined by aerodynamics. This involves two things: the consistent use of the leeway allowed by the respective regulations and the resulting requirements for the design and arrangement of the elements in the car.
With the help of technical sketches he explains his approach, starting at the beginning with the fundamental rules. This includes the formation of edge vortices and air turbulence at the front wheels. These are not systematic treatises, but explanations based on concrete examples.
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The following are his comments on the individual cars. Two prime examples are singled out here, each of which was designed after major changes to the regulations: the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-13 of 1998 and the Red Bull-Renault RB5 of 2009.
The 1998 regulations aimed at a massive reduction in speeds and an increase in driver safety: more space in the cockpit, a ban on the use of slicks, a reduction in the width of the car and the front wing. Adrian Newey rates this change in regulations as the biggest since the start of his career. He opts for a concept that relies on a consistent lowering of the vehicle’s center of gravity. In order to comply with the minimum dimensions of the car body, he has fitted two fins at the top left and right, which restrict the view of the driver, who is positioned deep in the monocoque, but guarantee the visual axis to the front and to the apex. In addition, there are other measures. Newey’s design is described at the time as extraordinarily innovative, while at the same time noting that he did not respect the spirit of the regulations. The 1998 drivers’ and constructors’ world championships were Mika Hakkinen resp. McLaren-Mercedes not to be taken.
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The 2009 regulations called for a full-width front wing with an aerodynamically neutral center section of 500 millimeters. The rear diffuser was only allowed to start from the middle of the rear axle and the rear wing had to be much narrower and higher. Other specifications were added. As Newey notes, it will be a very different car aerodynamically, because the edge vortices of the front wing passed outside the front tires.
However, the neutral zone of the front wing at the nose also caused edge vortices that pulled inward. The RB5 therefore got a whole range of new features. This again included the familiar fins on the top of the chassis, the V-shaped underside, and pullrods at the rear instead of the usual pushrods.
However, the winners of the season were Jenson Button and Brawn thanks to the double diffuser. Newey rates this as illegal and its legalization as a measure to stop the domination of Ferrari and McLaren. The retrofitting of the other teams including Red Bull came too late.
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In addition, of course, you learn details about mechanical developments in Formula 1 such as active suspension, steering of the rear wheels, double clutch.
He sums up his way of working as follows: "I like to work directly on the design of the car and spend at least half the working week with a pencil in my hand. I try to set a good example by not only making drawings myself, but also advising other engineers on how to implement the ideas". He immediately follows up by comparing himself to Ross Brawn: "Ross has a very different approach there. He sees himself more as a technical manager and achieves his successes by recruiting the right people …". Newey acknowledges that both were very successful despite different ways of working, because between 1992 and 2013 (the demarcation is not entirely coincidental!), with the exception of 2005-2008 (Renault and Ferrari twice each), only cars built by Ross Brawn or by him have won the constructors’ world championship.
It is important for him to constantly strive for new, better solutions. Drawing with passion, he calls it. He is aiming for continuous improvements so that he can keep the process under control. The fact that he is very systematic in the way he works can be seen from the fact that he has structured it down to the use of precisely defined types of pencil and paper.
Adrian Newey the chief designer
What is fascinating about this book is that you can share in the development and his thought processes. On the other hand, little is known about his management style. He does mention that race car companies have gotten much bigger between 1980 and today, but how to manage this multitude of people efficiently doesn’t really seem to concern him.
What is certain is that he wants to determine the concepts. He writes the specifications for the next car. This is not a text, but a set of drawings. Of course, he is also on site in development when the results of the wind tunnel tests or, today, the CFD simulations are available. He describes it as a trial-and-error process, with only about a quarter of his ideas surviving. This position also allows him to label the respective cars as his products. Although he usually names his most important competitors, he is the brains and therefore claims "intellectual property".
On the other hand, this presupposes that Newey can hold a prominent position in the company. At McLaren, a large team with a matrix organization, he had to watch Martin Whitmarsh once put his ideas to the vote. That’s when all his fuses blew.
That the time at McLaren, characterized by the dominance of the Ferrari+Schumacher combination, was not really enjoyable for him can again be seen from the number of pages he devotes to this phase. For seven years of Williams, he reserves 140 pages, for nine years of McLaren, it’s 55.
When Helmut Marko and Christian Horner later made him an offer to join Red Bull Racing as sole technical director in 2005 in response to a tip from David Coulthard, the decision was quickly made.
Adrian Newey and the fatal accident of Ayrton Senna
Perhaps the greatest catastrophe in Adrian Newey’s professional life was the fatal accident of Ayrton Senna in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix on a Williams 16, a car for which he had overall responsibility together with Patrick Head. He was also the one who allowed the diameter of the steering column to be reduced to create more space for the hands in the cockpit, as Ayrton Senna had wished. It was this change to the steering that played a central role in the discussions in the press and in the subsequent court case, because the steering column in the crashed car was broken.
The situation was not easy. Senna had to retire in the first two races of the season. He wanted to win the third one badly. But the 16 proved to be very unstable. The internal evaluations at Williams suggested that Senna had lost the car in the Tamburello curve, after he still tried to countersteer. All these maneuvers could only have taken place with the handlebars intact.
The process went unpunished for Newey and Patrick Head. If Adrian Newey is blaming himself, it’s for the unstable car that forced Senna into risky maneuvers to stay ahead of Schumacher in the lead, and for the informal way the steering was modified. This approach was not professional.
Adrian Newey and Red Bull Racing
Adrian Newey has also attracted attention in his career by the fact that his exits at Williams and McLaren were quite dramatic. At Williams, he was let go after an argument with Frank Williams and Patrick Head; at McLaren, they escorted him out of the office to the gate and Ron Dennis banned him from the house after his flirtation with Red Bull became known and he announced his departure.
Things were very different at Red Bull Racing. He formed and still forms the management duo together with Christian Horner. This is not to say that the relationship is always easy with Dietrich Mateschitz as the head of the group and Helmut Marko as his advisor in motorsport matters. Marko’s partisanship in favor of Sebastian Vettel in the dispute with Mark Webber did not please Newey at all.
Nevertheless, Adrian Newey seems to be deeply rooted in Red Bull Racing. Horner and he completely rebuilt the company after taking over Jaguar Racing and "shaped it around ideals" that they both shared. He has turned down offers from Mercedes and Ferrari, making it clear in a way that he feels very attached to the company. He calls it his home. In addition, at the time of the book’s completion, he was given the opportunity to design a supercar for Aston Martin, the Aston Martin Valkyrie. The car was unveiled last year at the Geneva Motor Show and the first examples are due to be delivered before the end of 2020, a project that held great appeal for him.
He lets it be known that (as of 2014) he is concerned about the engine situation. He fears that Red Bull could be handicapped in the long run against Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari. For an ambitious man like him, a less than attractive situation. On the other hand, he saw himself back in the situation at the beginning of his time at Red Bull, when hard work and innovative solutions led the team to the top of Formula 1.
No boring description of technical features
David Newey’s book, however, is not a boring description of the technical features of his considerable list of racing cars. Their sequence is just the backbone for the development of the exciting biography of a race car constructor, husband and family man with all the ups and downs both privately and professionally. Below the level with the 11 rounds, the book is divided accordingly into no less than 77 chapters.
In his career, Adrian Newey has had direct contact with many of Formula 1’s greats. Many he liked (Christian Horner, David Coulthard, Damon Hill), others he didn’t (Michael Schumacher). He shares the English teams’ dislike of Ferrari and believes in a special relationship with the FIA (aka "Ferrari International Aid").
Adrian Newey is twice divorced and the father of four children. A proud father, as he explains several times when acknowledging the achievements of his three daughters and his racing son.
Of course, his relatively late-awakened love for racing historic race cars also comes up at length. His ambition has driven him a few times to risky maneuvers with subsequent accidents and he has earned the reputation of a crash driver (which he considers unjustified).
He personally received the Order of the British Empire from the Queen in 2012. He was involved in the development of the video game Gran Turismo 5. George Harrison, on his 40th birthday. Birthday played. … There is much to discover!