“People thought I was committing career suicide,” Adrian Newey opines on joining a “relatively new” Red Bull team back in 2006


“People thought I was committing career suicide,” Adrian Newey opines on joining a “relatively new” Red Bull team back in 2006

Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey the Chief Technology Officer at Red Bull has seen all the ups and downs of the team since the start of the 2006 F1 season and recently has given his views on deciding to join Red Bull back in the day.

Before joining Red Bull Adrian Newey worked for teams like McLaren and Williams in Formula One and when the news of Newey joining Red Bull came out, everyone thought that it was a reckless decision on Newey’s part.

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However, since Newey arrived at Red Bull, the team has gone from strength to strength and one of the best examples of this was Red Bull’s domination in F1 during 2010-2013 when Sebastian Vettel won them four Constructors Championships in a row and more recently Newey once again proved his mettle when Max won last year’s Drivers Championship.

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The Brit is now in his 17th season with the team and can now look back at all the years of blood and sweat with “happiness” when many thought it was a career-ending decision.

While reminiscing about 2006 Newey said, ” When I joined Red Bull, people thought I was committing career suicide.”

Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey

“It’s been the most satisfying because, along with Christian [Horner], we took it from the ashes of Jaguar to how we want it.”

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Adrian Newey feels Max Verstappen is alongside all the top drivers in F1’s history

Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen celebrating victory in Montreal

Newey during his 17 years in the sport has worked with many legends of the sport including Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Nigel Mansel, Mika Hakkinen, etc and now that he has spent a few seasons looking at the growth of Max Verstappen, Newey believes that the Dutchman is also right up there with the best.

Max has been in tremendous form this season and has already won 6 of the first 9 races and Newey is confident that the 24-year-old is going to do unprecedented things in the sport.

While talking about the prolific Verstappen, Newey said, “It’s unfair to compare drivers from slightly different eras, but Max is right up there.”

“I think this image of the aggressive driver is over-egged. Perhaps in his early races in F1, he was quite aggressive, but last season that was unjustified.”

He’s very calm generally, very measured, he has tremendous reflexes and is a pleasure to work with.

Great drivers and I’d put Max in that category, know what they want from the car and know how to communicate with their race engineer as to what they want and how to achieve it.”

Adrian Newey
Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey has been full of praise for the 2021 World Champion and after spending so much time in the sport the Brit deep down in his heart must feel a sigh of relief whenever he gets the time to think about his decision of joining Red Bull.

During 2006 people thought it was suicide but with sheer hard work and determination, he has played a crucial role in making Red Bull a force to be reckoned with and all the accolades and respect that he has earned over the years are truly well-deserved.

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