F1 Aero Genius Adrian Newey rejected an offer to work on spacecrafts in favor of Red Bull

Adrian Newey remains determined to make further advancements in F1 instead of trying his hands in the world of spacecrafts.

F1 Aero Genius Adrian Newey rejected an offer to work on spacecrafts in favor of Red Bull

Adrian Newey and Christian Horner (Via IMAGO)

One of F1’s smartest minds, Adrian Newey is responsible for developing multiple championship-winning cars over the past few decades. Newey built the rocketship Red Bull RB19 in 2023 which facilitated Max Verstappen to break the majority of the records in the history of Formula 1. Recently, Newey recalled an anecdote from his past where he was invited to work on an exciting venture, something completely different from motor racing.

The Red Bull Chief Technical Officer revealed that around ten years ago, he was invited to work on a spacecraft. Although the offer was fascinating and working in space is one great feat, Adrian Newey was eager to continue his passion in F1 with Red Bull. Newey even pointed out that the historic Cold War space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

An American company did ring me up, about 10 years ago now, to ask if I would be interested in joining them to work on a spacecraft. It would be fascinating, and the space race in the Sixties must have been incredibly stimulating.
Adrian Newey told Top Gear.
YouTube video

The 65-year-old renounced the fact that he had more fascination with motor racing. Additionally, the tremendous scope for development in F1 further excited the Aero genius to continue his stint at Red Bull rather than try his hands on spacecraft. Thankfully, Newey’s involvement at Milton Keynes enabled the team to win multiple drivers’ and constructors’ championships.

FS Video
But I find motor racing more fascinating. There’s a tremendous pace of development and involvement in motor racing. I like that.

RB19’s dominant performance surprised Adrian Newey

The 2022 F1 regulation changes were the biggest changes since 1983 according to Adrian Newey. Coming into the 2023 season, Newey and Red Bull were not expecting such a stellar performance from the RB19. The pace of the challenger of 2023 came as a surprise even for the Aero genius. The team was expecting a diminution if not a complete banishment in advantage for Milton Keynes.

It’s a complete surprise. We thought... that our advantage would be diminished.. Clearly that’s not how it’s panned out.
Adrian Newey and Max Verstappen (Via IMAGO)
Adrian Newey and Max Verstappen (Via IMAGO)

Red Bull drivers won an astounding total of 21 races out of the 22 total races held in the season. The 2023 season also helped Red Bull take great learnings for the following season’s development. Although the RB20 failed the crash test recently, the challenger would involve a few elements of the dominant RB19.

Adrian Newey’s engineering mastermind has taken Red Bull to great heights. As the 65-year-old continues in the team, Milton Keynes hopes for a similar run in the 2024 season. However, multiple team members have talked about the difficulty in replicating a similar dominant performance in the subsequent season, Red Bull prepares for the challenges.

In case you missed it: