Red Bull Racing Technical Director Pierre Wache has labelled the Formula 1 outfit’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey as an “irreplaceable” member of the organisation.
Newey is considered one of the greatest designers in F1 history and his nearly two-decade-long stint in Milton Keynes was preceded by stints at McLaren and Williams – with his cars guiding the likes of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen to championship glory.
The British engineer was brought into the Red Bull fold when the team was still in its infancy and is a massive part of it racking up seven Drivers’ titles and six Constructors’ crowns.
Since 2014, Newey has stepped back to focus on a number of different projects within Red Bull, but Wache, who was promoted to Technical Director in 2018, says the 65-year-old’s influence on F1 activities is still keenly felt.
“He’s irreplaceable,” Wache told Autosport. “On a daily basis, he’s not part of our process.
“He’s more coming from the sideways and trying to help us or challenge us on different aspects of the team – it could be mechanical design, aero or vehicle dynamics.”
Newey now plays the role of mentor for Red Bull’s technical team, no longer responsible for the overall car concept, but contributing where he sees fit and nudging the team in the right direction.
Wache is right in saying that Newey has “the most experience of the full grid in terms of engineering,” given his four decades of work in F1.
“You have to use him as experience, as he has less time for us,” he added.
“He’s more… I don’t know the word in English – when you say somebody is there to challenge one aspect of stuff.
“He’s not there to do the plan, to do the full concept of the car. He’s challenging us. I would say more challenging than [agreeing].
“I think it’s good. Because when you have a step back, you see also different things.
“He has a different background than all of us. He has some knowledge that we don’t have.”
Newey, like Team Principal Christian Horner, appears woven into the very fabric of what Red Bull is, a figurehead for the team’s success and to an extent, identity – which is just as well given Wache’s positive measure of the man.
“He’s a very smart person and he’s still very open-minded,” Wache said.
“People with plenty of success normally [think] their idea is the best, and he’s not like that.
“He’s very open-minded.”
So when is Newey’s time with Red Bull to come to an end?
The great man himself told Sky Sports F1 that his time is on a “countdown,” but “as long as the team want me and I keep enjoying it, I’ll keep going.”
