Red Bull’s Christian Horner has said the company have obviously had to have a think about their future once Adrian Newey chooses to retire.
Newey is one of F1’s most successful car designers, having racked up 11 Constructors’ Championship titles across three teams, seven Drivers’ Championships and 193 Grand Prix wins.
Serving as Red Bull’s chief technical officer, Newey oversees the work of technical director Pierre Wache, chief engineering officer Rob Marshall, and chief performance engineer Ben Waterhouse.
Newey turns 64 years old this December and, having been with Red Bull since 2007, the question mark over what happens once Newey decides to call time on his career is one that Red Bull will eventually have to deal with.
With Newey also taking an interest in Red Bull’s engineering branch, Advanced Technologies, as well as the announced Red Bull RB17 hypercar project, team boss Christian Horner said that Newey’s firm hand on the rudder of their technical departments is allowing the incumbents to shine – paving the way for the future.
“Yeah, it’s something that obviously we’ve looked at and discussed this period of time, and Adrian’s role as chief technical officer has evolved with Advanced Technologies now, and the RB17 that we announced earlier in the year,” Horner said in an interview with the KTM Summer Grill for Speedcafe.com.
“He splits his time across various projects, and that’s forced the other guys to step up. There’s Pierre Wache as technical director, and the technical team, and they’ve done a fantastic job.
“Obviously, Adrian feeds into that and works closely with that group. He’s got this encyclopedia of knowledge, but it’s great to see the strength and depth that we have technically and the way that they’ve delivered.”
With Horner and Newey forming one of the most successful team boss/car designer partnerships ever seen in the sport, Horner described him as “the only block that can see air” – a useful talent to have for the start of the new ground effect regulations in 2022.
“He lives in the matrix,” Horner continued.
“He’s been the conductor of the technical orchestra for all these years now. He’s still very hands-on, he’s still at his drawing board. I think it’s probably the only drawing board in Formula 1, I had to argue with [former McLaren CEO] Ron Dennis to wrestle it out of McLaren.
“Obviously highs and lows during all these years but it’s always been fun. It’s always been about the racing.”
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