Adrian Newey designed 14 times a world champion Formula 1
Adrian Newey is one of the most famous and talented engineers in F1 history. The Briton has worked for Williams, McLaren and now Red Bull, designing fearsome single-seaters that have won drivers' and constructors' titles.
Newey joined Williams in 1991, two years later the FW15C was born, powered by a Renault engine and equipped with a very large number of electronic aids such as active suspension, traction control, power steering or even the anti-lock braking system, this single-seater allowed Alain Prost to win his fourth and last title. Williams also became constructor champion for the sixth time in the history of the team.
The single-seater in which Senna lost his life
The following year the FW16 again won the constructor’s title, Williams’ seventh and third consecutive. However, neither Damon Hill, David Coulthard, nor Nigel Mansell could stop Michael Schumacher and Benetton from winning the driver’s championship. Worse, this FW16 remains associated with the black weekend of Imola 1994, where Ayrton Senna was killed in the Tamburello turn. An accident that will forever mark Newey, making him ”feel guilty” about the death of the Brazilian.
The double in 1996
In 1996, the FW 18 won the drivers and constructors championships. Damon Hill, beaten the previous two seasons by Schumacher, finally won the world title with eight victories. Williams had scored 175 points with this single-seater, 105 more than their runner-up Ferrari.
Williams’ latest titles to date
The following year a new and last double for Williams. Sir Frank’s team won a seventh driver title with Jacques Villeneuve, as well as its ninth constructor title with the FW19. Following the disqualification of Michael Schumacher from the driver’s championship for his manoeuvre on Villeneuve during the ultimate round of the season in Jerez, Williams realized the double in the driver’s championship with the German Heinz-Harald Frentzen. However, Adrian Newey did not participate in the celebrations, the British engineer had left the team to join McLaren.
The first coronation with McLaren
The year 1998 is marked by new chassis regulation. In his first season with Ron Dennis’s team, Newey designed the MP4/13, incorporating a Mercedes engine, which won the driver’s title with Mika Häkkinen as well as the eighth and last constructor’s title for McLaren. The Finn won eight successes that year.
Häkkinen’s second title
For the last year of the second millennium, Newey sees one of his single-seaters: the MP4/15 win the driver’s title in the hands of Mika Häkkinen. He clinches five victories during the year 1999 and is champion with two small points ahead of Eddie Irvine, candidate for the title after the accident at Silverstone of Michael Schumacher. However, McLaren loses the constructor’s title four points behind Ferrari.
The beginning of success with Red Bull
During the winter of 2005-2006 Adrian Newey left McLaren to join the new Red Bull team. The British engineer had to wait until 2009 to see the Austrian team win its first race at the China Grand Prix and 2010 to clinch the driver’s and constructor’s title with Sebastian Vettel and his RB6 powered by Renault.
First season largely mastered with Red Bull
The RB7 is even better than its predecessor. Vettel is crowned from the Japan Grand Prix, four Grand Prix before the end of the season and wins 11 victories out of the 19 from the 2011 season. Mark Webber brought a 12th victory for Red Bull during the Brazil Grand Prix. The team finishes the season as manufacturer champion with 650 points, 153 ahead of McLaren.
A victory in difficulty
If Red Bull wins the third constructor’s title in 2012 with the RB8, 60 points ahead of Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel only claims five victories during the season and becomes a triple world champion for three small units ahead of Fernando Alonso, during the final race of the championship, on the Interlagos track.
The latest titles before the hybrid era
In 2013, Sebastian Vettel dominated the championship masterfully. 13 victories with the RB9, matching Michael Schumacher’s 2004 record, along with nine consecutive wins from the Belgium Grand Prix to that of Brazil, a record at the time. The year 2013 marked the last season of V8 atmospheric engines, replaced by V6 hybrids in 2014.
The one who ended Mercedes’ dominance
Since the hybrid era, Mercedes has won seven driver titles and eight consecutive constructors championships. Newey places a lot of hope in his RB16B with its Honda engine, the last single-seater before the new 2022 chassis regulations, postponed for a season due to the global pandemic. At the end of a knife-edge season with Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen clinched his first world championship title during the last lap of the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Champion from the start of the new regulation
With this change in regulation, supposed to provide more spectacle on track and more overtaking, these F1 22 use the phenomenon of ground effect. However, a rebounding of cars on a straight line, called ‘porpoising’ affects a lot of F1. But Adrian Newey had anticipated this phenomenon, the RB18 hardly bounced at all. This car allowed Verstappen to win his second driver’s title with 15 victories, beating Schumacher and Vettel’s record. Red Bull becomes the constructor champion again for the first time since the introduction of the hybrid V6s.
One of the most dominant single-seaters in F1 history
20 victories in the 21 races, five in the six Sprint of the season, manufacturer’s champion with 860 points, more than twice the total of the runner-up Mercedes, the RB19 is simply one of the best cars in the history of F1. Verstappen takes advantage of this to win 19 Grand Prix in 2023, thus beating his own record and chaining 10 consecutive victories, surpassing Vettel’s 2013 record.
