Adrian Newey and the Art of Design
The British engineer shares his thoughts on his profession.
When Adrian Newey arrived at Red Bull in 2005, Christian Horner stated in the columns of the Guardian: « Between Adrian Newey and Michael Schumacher, I will always choose Adrian. »
Indeed, the British engineer is at the helm of a track record that would make Michael Schumacher himself green with envy: over the past 20 years, his cars have won the constructor’s title 7 times—and just as many driver titles—claimed 116 victories, and achieved 145 pole positions with 129 fastest laps in races, and the series continues.
But behind the statistics, the track record, the engineering genius that Adrian Newey is today for the world of Formula One, lies a man who described himself, just a few weeks ago in The Telegraph, as probably the last dinosaur in the paddock using a drawing board rather than Computer-Aided Design software. I suppose it’s a matter of habit, just like the generation that is coming has never touched anything other than a computer.
In an exclusive interview for the British edition of the Red Bulletin, Adrian Newey reflects on what his job is: « Designing [a car] is not pure science, it involves the artistic part of the brain. […] The 1960s are certainly the Golden Age of automotive design… but the Ferrari 250 GTO, the Ford GT40 or the Ferrari 330 P4 are not the product of stylists.
One can therefore wonder where the boundary between engineering and art lies. « Our approach is research, design, and construction. Our philosophy is to spend as much time as possible on research. In fact, the construction phase for a new car is only about a week, so research and design can be maximized. »
Formula One, with its very precise and often restrictive regulations, nevertheless allows a huge scope for interpretation, imagination, and thus sometimes puts the designer in the spotlight: « A Formula One car is phenomenally “dirty”: a single-seater is not something you design from a blank sheet of paper. Just look at the level of complexity: an airplane is more “clean.” The fact is that we may take a direction, but it could be a dead end. We might start well but then find ourselves stuck. »
In 2009, when the RB5 made its debut, Formula One ‘rediscovered’ the genius of Adrian Newey and yet, it was only a few months later that he fully expressed himself, when faced with the double diffuser, he overturned his original plans to produce what many consider to be the best car of the season. Adrian Newey, who was awarded the John Bolster Award 2009 for technical achievement, is indeed a fertile mind that sometimes needs channeling but, when faced with problems, always demonstrates exemplary responsiveness: « It really depends on the problem. Most of the work is repetitive. We have a wing: how do we make it better? I look at the problem, try to understand it. Sometimes, I need to take a walk. It’s almost as if things evolve in your mind without you even being aware of it. »
However, if Formula One rewards fertile and innovative minds, it remains a strict framework defining what the engineer can and cannot do. Adrian Newey seized the opportunity offered to him by Polyphony Digital in 2009, during the design of their Gran Turismo 5, to conceive the now-famous Red Bull x2010, a prototype free from any regulatory constraints. This car shattered, by nearly 20 seconds, the lap record of a Formula One car—and on console—at Suzuka. Its creator then explained that he wanted to seek the limit, to go where the car’s performance and the driver’s experience take precedence over regulations. According to him, in the Red Bulletin, these limits are not established. […] Physically, drivers can withstand going faster: regulations are the main obstacle. We are certainly not at the limits of the human body.
Thus, designers have before them an unexplored universe often made unexplainable by regulations, even though there are spaces of freedom where the artistic fiber of the engineer can be expressed: « There are areas on a Formula One car where you can make visual modifications that will make no difference to performance. Generally, the most visible parts – the top of the bodywork – are the least important, says Adrian Newey.
What I do is try to find enough time for inspiration. I spend my time being an engineer with my fellow engineers at Red Bull, not managing them. Management doesn’t interest me.
