Hakkinen praises Newey’s role in Red Bull title triumph

Ex-F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen has hailed Adrian Newey’s contribution to Max Verstappen’s dominant 2022 Drivers’ Championship win.

Verstappen scored his 12th win of 2022 at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix to seal his second World Championship title with four races still to run this season.

The Dutchman’s all-conquering RB18 is the brainchild of Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer Newey, who has designed multiple championship-winning cars in an F1 career spanning over 30 years.

Cars designed by Newey have won 190 Grands Prix and ten Constructors’ Championships across three different F1 teams, and seven different drivers have tasted title glory with Newey’s designs.

Hakkinen’s two championship wins in 1998 and 1999 came at the wheel of Newey-penned McLarens, and the Finn paid tribute to his former colleague’s leadership skills and history of sustained success in F1.

Hakkinen – Newey is ‘most successful designer in F1 history’

“I am very happy for Red Bull’s technical boss Adrian Newey,” Hakkinen wrote in his column for Unibet.

“It was thanks to his work at McLaren that I had great cars with which to win both my World Championship titles and he is still winning at Red Bull all these years later.

“He really is the most successful designer in F1 history, and although I know he has a great team of design engineers working with him, his technical leadership is just brilliant.

“Even during Mercedes’ dominant years [between 2014 and 2021], Red Bull remained competitive and it’s amazing to see Adrian’s team take advantage of this year’s new regulations to win another title. Congratulations to him.”