Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s chief technical officer, was interviewed on the “Beyond The Grid” Podcast. Acclaimed designer who brought not only wins but World Championship titles to Williams, McLaren and Red Bull — the last of was winning the Constructors’ Championship this past weekend, at Suzuka — and opened up about his F1 regrets, in what constitutes an outstanding career.
“[Ferrari came calling] in my IndyCar days, which probably doesn’t count, then ’93 and famously in 2014. The ’93 one was very tempting.”
“I went down, Jean Todt had just started. I remember him talking about should he hire Michael [Schumacher] or not. Do you think that was a good idea?”
When asked if he had ever considered working for the Prancing Horse in a separate facility, so that he would not have to travel to Italy constantly, he replied:
“I never asked the question and I don’t believe it. If you’re going to do it, Ferrari is an Italian team.
“The idea of having a research and design centre which is in a completely different place to the race team — I know we have a sister team [AlphaTauri, split between Faenza, Italy and Bicester, UK] that does that — but I don’t believe in the concept.
Red Bull got left in limbo during the early stages of the hybrid era as Mercedes ran away with title after title.
Newey explained he had talks with Ferrari in 2014 as he had become irritated by the lack of effort engine supplier Renault were putting in on their side.
“My discussions in 2014 with Ferrari were purely out of frustration.
“I really didn’t want to leave but we were in this position where Renault hadn’t produced a competitive turbo hybrid engine.
“That happens in the first year, OK, new rules. We all make mistakes. But we went to see Carlos Ghosn, Christian, Helmut and myself to try to put pressure on him to up the budget.
“Ghosn’s reply was: ‘Well, I have no interest in Formula 1. I’m only in it because my marketing people say I should be’. That was such a depressing place to be.”
In the end, however, frustration did not win out and did not break the bond between the designer and Red Bull, and he ultimately chose to stay.
Newey then concluded by explaining how not having worked with Ferrari is one of the few regrets of his career, alongside not getting the chance to work with World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
“Emotionally, I guess, to a point. Yes [it could be considered a regret]. But just as, for instance, working with Fernando and Lewis would have been fabulous. But it never happened. It’s just circumstance sometimes, that’s the way it is.”
Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
