© Getty ImagesAdrian Newey's UpdateHear from Adrian Newey as we enter the summer break in the Formula One season.
BeforeF1shutsdownforthesummerbreak,wesatdownwithAdrianNeweytodiscusstheRB16B,theseasonsofar,theseasontocome,achampionshipbattle,acoupleofcontroversies,andaneweraoftechnicalregulationsforthesport.
Our Chief Technical Officer, it has to be said, greets it all with a faint smile: he’s been in this position many times over the last four decades – and he isn’t about to start pulling any punches now…
Adrian Looks On At Track© Vladimir Rys
Q: Adrian, we’re halfway through the season, and for the first time in quite a while we’re in a proper battle for the championships. You’ve been here many times before – how does it feel to be in a title fight again?
AN: We have to be performing at the highest level in all areas of the business to try and overturn a seven-time World Championship winning team, which I believe we have been doing. The last couple of races have been very painful for us after hitting a sweet spot over the France-Styria-Austria triple-header. It really does highlight how quickly things can change. Things were looking very good, particularly after the Austrian Grand Prix, and we had a decent points lead in the two Championships: two races later we’re slightly behind in both which is more painful when it is through no fault of our own. That’s the nature – and the competitiveness – of the sport we’re in. We just have to keep our heads down and keep pushing.
Q: Do you believe it’s valuable having been in this situation before?
AN: One of the great things about Red Bull Racing is that we’ve always had a good atmosphere in the Team and that’s meant we’ve also had very good stability in the workforce, going back to a time even before we were first able to mount a title challenge. We lost-out in 2009 but that, and I think the experiences of winning two very tight battles in 2010 and 2012 have moulded us, and given us a level of resilience that comes in very useful now. We know how to be the hunter and the hunted which is a definite strength.
Q: Were you expecting to be fighting for a title this year? Did the RB16B feel like a contender before it hit the track?
AN: It tends to be very much unknown until you do get out on track. We had a mid-sized regulation change over the winter in terms of some aerodynamic restrictions around the floor and the back of the car. It wasn’t a major change, but it did require some optimisation of the car to go with it. On top of that, we had the unique situation of homologating last year’s car to help F1 cope with the issues arising from COVID. It limited what we could do to the tokens we were allowed to spend. We chose to spend ours on the gearbox casing, which also allowed us to change the arrangement of the rear suspension. That was the one thing I didn’t feel had worked very well on the RB16.
I think those changes bought us a reasonable step forward. When we got to Bahrain it looked like we’d read the regulations on the aerodynamic restrictions reasonably well. Checo, of course, hadn’t driven the RB16 but Max instantly felt the new car was a decent step from the previous one and was very complimentary. Coming out of the test we felt we had a competitive package – but you never really know where that’s going to be. You don’t know what engine modes people were running, what fuel loads they had in and so on – trying pre-season to understand where you really are is a minefield. It took the Bahrain Grand Prix to confirm that yes, were competitive. We didn’t win that one – but it’s been nip and tuck since then.
Q: Are you happy with the performance delivered in the areas where the tokens were spent?
AN: To go back a little way, when we moved from the RB15 of 2019 to the RB16 last year, there were some things on the car that we didn't fully understand. Even with the wind tunnel programme and all of our simulation tools there are still things that can trip you up, and that’s exactly what happened at the start of 2020. It took a bit of time to understand and get on top of those issues. The benefit of that – as is often the case – is that you learn things that you wouldn’t otherwise have learned. You get more out of the mistakes than you do the good things. I think that stood us in good stead for what we did over the winter, and those developments have got us to where we are now.
Heating Up In Hungary© Vladimir Rys
Q: We’re calling this the halfway point but there are more 2021 races ahead than there are behind. Will the tough schedule of – potentially – 12 races in 16 weeks impact the Team’s ability to deliver more performance?
AN: It places a huge load on the race team in terms of travel and time away from home, and a strain on the factory in terms of the consumption of parts – though obviously the last two races have delivered a similar strain given the amount of accident damage we’ve now got to contend with. In terms of development, the number of races doesn’t particularly impact it. The big balancing act is the huge regulation change ….
Q: On that subject, just how big a change is this going to be? Is there anything comparable in F1’s history?
AN: I would say this is the biggest single regulation change we’ve had since the ground effect/venturi cars were banned at the end of 1982. It really is a revolution. The only thing that really stays the same is the power unit, everything else is different. The balancing act is that we have to keep developing this year’s car because, at the moment, we have a shot at the titles – and yet at the same time we can’t just concentrate on this year and ignore what’s to come. We’re doing our best to juggle those two balls – while also coping with the cost cap which, as everyone knows, has meant we’ve unfortunately had to shrink the size of the Team in certain areas.
Adrian Newey At Pre-Season Testing© Vladimir Rys
Q: This year, the Team has been involved in a fair amount of action off-track as well as on. How do you feel when rivals are keen to have the rules re-examined in an attempt to slow you down. Is that… flattering?
AN: It’s absolutely correct to say that top teams are only interested in what their main rivals are up to, and not particularly worried about what a team at the other end of the grid are doing.
In many ways it is a compliment to the Team to find ourselves under such scrutiny from others. We have experienced this before but I can’t remember a time when we have received the same level of behind the scenes politicking and lobbying against our car. Possibly if you look back to when we were exploring aeroelastics in 2010 / 2011 then we were under constant scrutiny and would adapt to each changing set of regulations. We’ve been here before in the last championship battles with Ferrari which involved some rows over bodywork flexibility as well. I never particularly like the war analogy – but it is a decent analogy, and you have to look at every aspect you can to improve your competitive position.
That is the nature of Formula One, and one of the things that makes it so stimulating, but it is the frequency and intensity of this year that is quite telling.
Under Covers In The Garage© Getty Images
Q: Many of the questions seem to be raised behind closed doors but the flexi-wing was very public, what did you make of that debate?
AN: If you take the issue with the flexible rear wing, we certainly weren’t the only team to have that issue but of course, when Mercedes started making noise about it, they weren’t worried about what Alfa were doing. They were only worried about whether we were getting a benefit, which we really weren’t, but there was a cost implication to changing that part which obviously hurt. It is however a great testament to the depth of our Team that we can respond to changes and is a great example of when our Team is put in a corner we can come out fighting and continue to be just as competitive.
Q: With hindsight, do you believe it was correct to ask the stewards to review the penalty handed down to Lewis for the Silverstone crash?
AN: I absolutely do believe it was correct. Basically, the right to appeal is based on fresh evidence coming to light. It’s quite an old rule and the thought when it was drafted was that perhaps there might be somebody taking video in the grandstands that could provide a different angle, and that would be admissible as new evidence. In our case, we had analysis of GPS data, which I think is analogous to a video recorded in the grandstands. Both are technically available during the event but neither will be available to the stewards – in the case of GPS it needs specialist analysis to make it viewable. In that sense, I was very disappointed that the stewards decided that wasn’t new evidence. It’s unfortunate but that’s their decision and we respect that.
A Strong Start At Silverstone© Vladimir Rys
Q: How will Max bounce back from the disappointments of the last two rounds? You’ve worked with a string of F1’s very best drivers, how does he compare?
AN: He has the same steely grit as any World Champion, the stuff that they need to dig in and keep going in the face of adversity. He can put the past behind him and look forward to the next race. His driving ability is obviously superb, and he’s matured into a great racer. He’s really not made any mistakes this year. The races where he hasn’t scored heavily – Baku, Silverstone and Hungary have been no fault of his: but he’s kept his head and bounced back from all of those. I don’t think the pressure of the situation will affect him. He’s very easy to chat to and has a wide range of interests, which I think is very important for an F1 driver. If your only interest is F1, that can almost make it too important when the pressure comes on. Max has a very good balance in that respect.
Q: Of all the championships you have fought for have you ever known one as intense off-track as this one?
AN: As the viewing figures and the size of the teams have increased, Formula One has become a much bigger business and with that comes more media spin and political manoeuvring. I think what is great about our Team, and this comes very much from the ethos of Dietrick Mateschitz and the Red Bull outlook, is that we are here to win but we want to do it our way and in a clean way so we can stand up proudly when we do take wins. We are also a straight-talking Team both internally and externally. We do show our emotions and we are proud of that openness in the way we work and for me it is a refreshing environment to be in.
Adrian And Christian In Monaco© Getty Images
Q. Does the close battle make you proud to be in Formula One this year?
AN. We have had seen some great races this year through the field but the standout titanic battle is between Max and Lewis and it makes amazing viewing when you see two people absolutely at the top of their game slogging it out every week. The fact that they are in different machinery and are not teammates heightens it even further. It makes an even broader competition and the car and how we manage to adapt to the ever-changing scene does become a factor.
Q: And finally, with the summer break upon us and the championships so finely balanced, how will you switch off over the next two weeks?
AN: Usually it takes me a few days to unwind, which means the first week goes very slowly and the second flies by! In a normal year I’d try to get away with the family and go somewhere warm – but it’s a bit tricky this year with travel restrictions and quarantines. We’re going to tour the UK first and then head off to Croatia for a few days. I quite enjoy water-skiing and paddle-boarding. I like beach holidays but I don’t like lying on the beach, I want to do something while I'm there…
Making Memories In Monaco© Vladimir Rys