Red Bull F1 Team pay tribute to "Unique Genius" Newey

Drivers of the Ex-Red Bull F1 Team pay tribute to “Unique Genius” Newey

Drivers who have competed for Red Bull in the past have praised "unique genius" Adrian Newey as the Formula 1 engineering whiz is ready to leave the company.

(Motorsports news) Newey has decided to leave Red Bull in the early months of 2025, as had been widely expected. This has led to conjecture about where the 65-year-old may go if he decides to stay in Formula One.

After winning titles with Williams and McLaren, the British driver joined Red Bull in 2006, and in the years that followed, his impact propelled Red Bull from the F1 middle into the thick of title fights.

During this season, he will continue to serve as Red Bull’s chief technical officer and finish off his work on the company’s RB17 hypercar project.

He was praised as a “unique genius” by Pierre Gasly, who also mentioned that working with Newey at the team was the highlight of his half-season with Red Bull.

“A unique genius I’ll say; extremely talented, most successful engineer in the history of our sport,” the Frenchman sang.

“Very specific method – I can still recall visiting Milton Keynes and seeing him sketch all kinds of things on his board, and I wondered, Is that how we draw Formula One cars these days?

And it’s simply very amazing; in fact, dealing with such a unique person was perhaps my favorite Red Bull recollection. Adrian and I got along really well. incredibly modest and grounded man.”

Midway through 2019, Alex Albon took Gasly’s place at the team. He remained with Newey as a racing driver in 2020 until being demoted to reserve driver the following year.

“Inspiring” as his experience working with Newey was, according to Albon, the two collaborated more closely in 2021 when the Angl-Thai’s responsibilities included simulator work at the team’s Milton Keynes location.

“He’s a very nice person and everyone who knows him, he is very popular and very open-minded, I got on very well with him,” Albon stated.

“I’m curious to see what he does next. Whether he decides to retire or continue racing, I wish him the best of luck. I’m sure that every team is trying to recruit him. Naturally, our door is also always open!

“He had a strong bond with the driving side. He was really curious about the sensation. In a way, I believe he still recognized that there are specific settings for the car that must be followed in order to maximize its potential.

Because his office is just next to Christian’s, I would always go see him. Speaking with Adrian in 2021, when I was more of a sim guy, I was more involved in that kind of stuff. We were attempting to resolve some of the problems from 2020, the same kind of things like understanding mindsets and what areas he needed to work on.

“If it was something that he felt was important, he’d always come and speak to me after a Sunday and want my opinion about it, which was nice to have that relationship with someone who’s obviously so influential.”

Driving with Red Bull from 2014 to 2018, and then briefly returning as the team’s third driver at the beginning of 2023, Daniel Ricciardo called it a “privilege” to have been a part of the Newey-influenced vehicles at the company.

Although he acknowledged that it could be “kind of intimidating” to see Newey’s drawing board in the office, he highlighted how much of a racing enthusiast Newey was by mentioning his attempts to drive vintage vehicles at Goodwood.

“[It was] a privilege to work with him, privilege to drive several of his race cars,” stated Ricciardo.

“I planned to keep things simple and not ask too many questions for my own benefit, but he also enjoys motorsport and participates in events like the Revival, Goodwood, and other such events. Like all of us, at his core, he’s just a fan.

“It is evident that he remains deeply committed to and interested in the sport. That, in my opinion, also illustrates how much he adores it.”