Adrian Newey on success with Red Bull: 'Highlight of my career'

Published on 24 July 2018 by Raymond Snip

The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team has been at the absolute top of Formula 1 for years. In its fourteen-year history, the team from Milton Keynes has so far achieved 58 victories, 59 poles and four driver and constructors' titles. Adrian Newey has, since the early years, been a major contributor to the team of driver Max Verstappen.

In an interview with Mobil 1 The Grid, Newey explains how the collaboration with Red Bull came about: "Christian Horner made it his business of always walking through the paddock when I walked through", Newey jokes about the time he still worked at rival McLaren. "We got chatting and it started kind of unfolding from there. For me it was the opportunity totry to fulfill unfinished business."

Newey is referring to the Leyton House privateer team where, from 1988 to 1990, he had his first F1 design role. The small team was successful at times, but financial issues led to the demise of the team. "I think we had about a total of 50 employees", the Brit says about his time at Leyton House. "We had up and down performances. We took some podiums and nearly won in France in 1990, but I always felt that had we had continued finance, we could have won races and perhaps even the championships. It’s with great sadness that that dream with Leyton House was cut short."

After his adventure at Leyton House, Newey went to work at top teams Williams and McLaren, where he celebrated great successes. At the end of 2005, Newey’s services were aquired by Red Bull and was thus able to fulfill his dream that started at Leyton House. Newey explains: "With the unfinished business at Leyton House still in the back of my mind, the opportunity to join a young startup team and see if we could go from what was the ashes of Jaguar to building up a team that could challenge for races and maybe even championships seemed very attractive. This was very motivating to me and got me going again."

Newey continues: "When I joined Red Bull, they were known as a 'party team' that was not taken very seriously by the Formula 1 world. Many people thought that it was career suicide and that I bit off far more then I could possibly chew. To build this team with Christian from the ashes of the Jaguar team to the point where we won our first race, that was a very proud moment in China 2009. And then on to that Championship in 2010 was a real career highlight. To be involved in something from the start, to build it up to the point that you’re on top of the world is something truly special."