Red Bull technical boss Adrian Newey has spoken of his frustration that the current rules in F1 stifle creativity, but recognises that without tight regulation F1 would become an arms race, “I think it is a shame that they (the rules) are so tight in a way, there’s no doubt that it stifles some of the creativity,” he said. “But that’s the world we live in…. It would be fantastic to not have them, but with the size and resources of the teams an arms war would result, which would mean a tremendous leap in performance for the cars. “Teams More…

Adrian Newey, Formula 1’s foremost designer of the past two decades, was recognised on a national scale this week when he collected his OBE from the Queen at Windsor Castle. Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer was recognised for his services to motorsport during a career that has seen him design multiple championship-winning cars for Williams, McLaren and now his current team. Newey had been honoured in the same New Years Honours List as Nigel Mansell – who took the designer’s Williams FW14B to the 1992 drivers’ title – the 31-time grand prix winner having received a CBE for his role as More…

Donald McRae, the award winning writer from the Guardian, has done it again with a groundbreaking interview with Adrian Newey, the design genius behind Red Bull’s current domination of Formula 1. But the quotes which catch the eye are not about Sebastian Vettel or Mark Webber, they concern the death of Ayrton Senna, 17 years ago this month, in a Newey designed Williams-Renault car. “The little hair I had all fell out in the aftermath,” Newey told McRae for an article in today’s Guardian. “So it changed me physically. It was dreadful. Both Patrick Head and myself separately asked ourselves More…

When I was writing the other day about the things that could stop Red Bull winning the world championships, I forgot to consider an incapacitated technical director. Red Bull got away with it today when Adrian Newey had another accident, this time at the wheel of a Ginetta G50 in the BTCC support race at Snetterton. Newey was spun into the path of another car. After a heavy side-on impact, he was removed from the car on a back-board and taken to hospital for check ups. I’m told that in hospital he was chatting to the doctors, but was in More…

F1 in Schools WebsiteF1 in Schools, the global engineering challenge for school children, of which I am proud to be a patron, has had two major breakthroughs recently. First the world championship finals due to take place in Singapore this year have been boosted by a sponsorship deal with LG Electronics. And then at Silverstone last weekend, one of the participants, Kelly Ashbridge, who has represented her school in Carlisle in F1 in Schools, got the chance to interview Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey, an active patron of the programme. Through F1 in Schools, Kelly has become interested in More…