Exclusive: F1’s “irreplaceable” design by king Newey on Red Bull’s edge

Adrian Newey helped create the Red Bull powerhouse after winning championships at Williams and McLaren. And he’s definitely not done yet, he tells Motorsport.com in an exclusive, in-depth interview.

The list of Formula 1 successes that do not bear Adrian Newey’s influence is getting less and smaller. And in 2023, the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 was ultimately dethroned as “F1’s most dominant car” by the Red Bull RB19. Red Bull is prevailing in grand prix racing for the second season since Newey left the Woking team in 2006.

Red Bull unsure if "third evolution" RB20 F1 car will be good enough

Since joining the team, Newey has held the position of chief technological officer. Because of his position, he is above current technical director Pierre Wache but stays away from the day-to-day process side of the squad’s engineering, focusing instead on development factors. Newey’s job has “evolved over the last few years,” according to team principal Christian Horner, who also noted that Newey “has the ability to come in, come out and work on other projects, and that’s part of the evolution of any team.”

As the Grand Prix Editor for Autosport, Alex Kalinauckas has covered every Formula 1 event since the beginning of 2020. He covered national racing as a freelance autosport writer while holding a master’s degree in journalism from Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014. He also worked for a variety of technology and motorsport magazines.Newey's 'challenge the system' F1 approach a boost to Red Bull success

Alex joined the Autosport team in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3. He has been a lifelong fan of motorsports, and no one in his family can quite explain how or why such a development first occurred. In March 2018, Alex was promoted to Formula E correspondent and became the Plus Editor of Autosport.com. The Central Line frequently irritates him; he lives in northeast London.