In Formula 1, the car isn't quite everything, but ultimately, how well the team's designers did their job creating a racing car is a more important factor in a team's success on track than how good their drivers are. It's not that F1 drivers don't matter, but even the best driver on the grid will struggle to earn points if they're not in a competitive car.
One designer has been responsible for creating competitive cars more than any other, penning 12 championship-winning cars in 32 years. His name is Adrian Newey, and this week, we discovered he's looking for a new job.
As in other sports, F1's "silly season" is what they call that time period when contracts are up and people are switching to new teams; it's named as such because it's what happens when there's no real news to report but you need a story anyway.
This year, the silly season got underway well before the first of the year, and it's been sillier than most. First, Andretti Cadillac got snubbed by the sport—because an email went to a spam folder—then seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton announced he was leaving longtime home Mercedes, for Ferrari. Just as everything started to calm down, the Red Bull team started to look a little... implodey as Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was accused of inappropriate behavior by a female employee.
At the time, rumors circulated that Red Bull's superstar Max Verstappen could try to use the Horner scandal as a way to leave the team. That didn't happen, but something just as consequential did—it precipitated the departure of Newey. The superstar designer will finish the Red Bull RB17 hypercar project before departing the team early in 2025.
Advertisement"Ever since I was a young boy, I wanted to be a designer of fast cars. My dream was to be an engineer in Formula 1, and I’ve been lucky enough to make that dream a reality," Newey said in a statement. His autobiography, which tells the story of how he made that happen, is worth a read, but today we've put together some galleries of Newey's various creations—an illustrated history of his career as the world's most successful race car designer.
The early years
Newey's first racing cars weren't F1 machines. He started work at the race car builder March, and after working as a race engineer in IndyCar and then F2 for March customers, he designed the March 82G, aka the Lobster Claw, which raced in IMSA's GTP category. He then penned the 1985 Indy 500-winning March 85C, then its successor in 1986, before leaving March for a couple of years, then returning to design his first F1 car for the small F1 team Leyton House in 1988. Newey designed Leyton House's cars for March until 1990 when he moved to Williams as chief designer.
- Newey worked as race engineer for Keke Rosberg's Fittipaldi F8 before moving to March to design cars.Bernard Cahier/Getty Images)
- You can see why the March 82G earned the nickname Lobster Claw, seen here racing in Miami in 1983.Brian Cleary/Getty Images
- Newey is known for his F1 accolades, but winning the Indy 500 with his first IndyCar (the March 85G) is nothing to sneeze at either.Focus on Sport via Getty Images
- Newey's first F1 chassis, the March 881.Pascal Rondeau/Allsport/Getty Images
- Ivan Capelli of Italy drives the #16 Leyton House Racing March CG891 Judd V8 during the Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix on 22 October 1989 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan.Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images
- Mechanics assemble the Adrian Newey designed Leyton House CG901Judd V8 on 1st June 1990 at the Leyton House Formula One Racing Team in Bicester, Great Britain.Photo by Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images
The Williams years
Williams was a much more competitive team then than now, and Newey's FW14 turned out to be one of the most successful F1 cars, notching up seven wins in 1991 and 10 wins in 1992, earning Nigel Mansell the championship in the process. 1993 saw Alain Prost take the crown with the Newey-designed FW15C, then Damon Hill became champion in 1996 with the FW18, followed by Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 with the FW19.
- The FW14 was the first Newey car to win an F1 race. It was so good, Williams kept it for the following season (in B-spec), where it won the championship.Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images
- The FW15C is considered by many to be the most advanced F1 car ever thanks to fully active suspension, a semi-automatic gearbox, and anti-lock brakes.Pascal Rondeau/Allsport/Getty Images
- Damon Hill almost won the 1994 championship in the FW16. Here, we see Newey driving the car up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.Mark Thompson/Getty Images
- In 1995, Damon Hill did not drive a great season, and Michael Schumacher won everything.Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images
- But 1996 went much better and Hill took the title. Williams dumped him anyway, and Newey also left, disliking the way Hill was treated.Darren Heath/Getty Images
- Newey was on gardening leave while his FW18 earned another championship in 1997.Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images
The McLaren years
However, Newey was already gone by the time Villeneuve raced the FW19 in anger. He departed the Williams team in 1996 to join McLaren for the 1998 season, partly because owners Frank Williams and Patrick Head refused to offer the designer an equity stake in the team. Newey's first car for McLaren was the MP4/13, like most of his creations, a winner. It gave McLaren the driver and constructor championship in 1998, and its successor the MP4/14 allowed Mika Hakkinen to take a second championship.
But the 2000s saw the start of Ferrari's dominant period with Michael Schumacher driving, Ross Brawn designing, and Jean Todt running the team. McLaren took more wins, but Newey's relationship with McLaren boss Ron Dennis wasn't always the best, and there was even an unraced car, the MP4/18. Getting bored with the sport, Newey made noises about designing an America's Cup yacht, but in 2005 instead announced he was leaving McLaren for the Red Bull Racing team, then still in its infancy.
- This is Newey's first McLaren, the MP4/13.Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images
- McLaren lost the constructors title to Ferrari in 1999, but Mika Hakkinen became a back-to-back F1 driver's champion in the MP4/14.Oliver Multhaup/picture alliance via Getty Images
- From 2000, McLaren would still win races, but Ferrari took home all the titles. This is the MP4/15.Mark Thompson/ALLSPORT via Getty Images
- Here's the MP4/16, seen in testing in 2001.CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images
- And this is the MP4/17, seen at its reveal in January 2002.Mark Thompson/Getty Images
- An iteration of the previous car, now called the MP4/17D, took the place of the ill-fated MP4/18 in 2003.Darren Heath/Getty Images
- The MP4-18 was supposed to be the race car for 2003 but it was troubled by poor reliability and a number of heavy crashes in testing.CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP via Getty Images
- The anteater nose concept started to work with the MP4/19 in 2003.Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
- 2005 might have been peak Kimi Raikkonen in terms of speed. He raced the MP4/20.LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images
- For pre-season testing in 2006 the McLaren MP4/21 wore Papaya Orange. It was the last Newey McLaren.Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
The Red Bull years
Newey's first Red Bull, the RB3, showed up in 2007. It had a sister car, the Toro Rosso STR2—at the time, the rules allowed the teams to share the designs since they had the same owner, a practice that has since been banned. Neither was amazing, nor was the RB4 the following year, though the STR3, powered by a Ferrari engine instead of the Renault in the Red Bull, gave a young Sebastian Vettel his first win.
AdvertisementThe RB6 was his first championship Red Bull, the first of six, spanning two distinct sets of technical regulations.
- Mark Webber in the Red Bull Racing RB3.David Davies - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images
- After subbing for an injured Robert Kubica the year before, Sebastian Vettel got a full-time F1 drive in 2007 with Toro Rosso, the Red Bull junior team.Darren Heath/Getty Images
- David Coulthard (L) and Mark Webber (R) check out their Red Bull RB4 at its launch.Clive Mason/Getty Images
- Toro Rosso won with a Newey car before Red Bull, when a young Sebastian Vettel beat everyone else at Monza to win the Italian Grand Prix.Darren Heath/Getty Images
- Brawn GP took the 2009 titles, but by midseason the RB5 was a winning car. Here, we see Newey driving it Goodwood in 2010.Andrew Hone/Getty Images for Red Bull
- Toro Rosso French driver Sebastien Bourdaiz (L) and Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi (R) pose during the presentation of the new F1 Toro Rosso's car STR4 on March 9, 2009 at Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona. This would be the last Newey-designed Toro Rosso; from the following year they had to design their own race car.LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images
- German Red Bull Racing Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel driving his Red Bull Racing RB6 racing car across the finish line as he waves his finger in celebration of winning the 2010 European Grand Prix, Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia, Spain, on the 27 June 2010.Darren Heath/Getty Images
- Red Bull brings out its old cars to entertain the public—here, the RB7, which won the 2011 championship, is being demonstrated in Santiago, Chile, in 2023.JAVIER TORRES/AFP via Getty Images
- Mark Webber was always good in a Red Bull at Monaco. Here, he's seen in the RB8 from 2012.Darren Heath/Getty Images
- Vettel's last world championship—the fourth in a row—was in the RB9.Darren Heath/Getty Images
- 2014 saw the introduction of a new hybrid powertrain formula, and with it, several years of Mercedes domination. Red Bull's contender that year was the RB10.Vladimir Rys Photography via Getty Images
- F1 cars in 2015, like this RB11, started getting pretty ugly.Andrew Hone/Getty Images
- Sparks fly from Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull RB12 at Abu Dhabi in 2016.Lars Baron/Getty Images
- In 2017, Red Bull got itself a new driver by the name of Max Verstappen. Despite being just 17 years old, he proved to be extremely fast.Clive Mason/Getty Images
- Here's Verstappen in 2018 in the RB14.Clive Mason/Getty Images
- In 2019, the RB15 proved fast in Verstappen's hands, but Red Bull dumped its second driver Pierre Gasly mid-season, replacing him with Alex Albon.Charles Coates/Getty Images
- Albon, seen here driving the RB16 in Turkey in 2020, suffered the same fate as Gasly at the end of the season.Clive Mason/Getty Images
- In 2021, a Newey-designed car, the RB17, won another F1 championship, albeit in extremely controversial circumstances.Cristiano Barni ATPImages/Getty Images
- 2022 brought a new rules package for F1 cars, and Newey and his team got the RB18 perfect out of the box. Verstappen went on to dominate the season.Dan Mullan/Getty Images
- 2023 was much of the same, with no other team able to get a look in. Here's Verstappen in his RB19 at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
- All the other teams tried to close the gap to Red Bull in 2024, but the RB20 is still the class of the field. Here's Verstappen practicing in Miami.Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
Where does Newey go next?
Where Newey will go next is the hottest question in Formula 1. Most people's money is on Ferrari. This would link him up with Lewis Hamilton, but questions remain as to whether the designer actually wants to uproot his life and move to Italy, despite the resources that Ferrari can spend on him.
Aston Martin is also believed to be bidding for his services, but perhaps the most poetic option would be a return to Williams. Now owned by a private equity firm, Williams doesn't have the same level of resources as either Ferrari or Aston Martin, and is far behind either team in terms of performance right now. But its owners could offer Newey something he's wanted since his first stint at Williams: an equity stake—rather than just being an employee.
Such a move is probably unlikely, but wouldn't it be wonderful to see?
