2X World Champion Mika Hakkinen Reveals the ‘Designer’ Responsible for Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s Resurgence: “His Technical Leadership Is Just Brilliant”

What do Nigel Manson, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen have in common? The answer is Adrian Newey. The Briton’s impressive resume includes building over 10 title-winning cars across 3 constructors.

Furthermore, the Flying Finn labels the Red Bull CTO as the “most successful” F1 designer in history.

Adrian Newey joined F1 after a very successful stint in the IndyCar. After winning 2 Indy 500 titles in 1986 and 1987, Newey knew the pinnacle of motorsport was his next destination. Newey first made his mark with Williams Racing. His engineering masterpiece was the ammunition of 4 champion drivers.

Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, and Jacques Villeneuve won their titles driving the cars that Newey had created. He rounded off the 20th century by providing Mika Hakkinen with his double world championships.

Newey joined Red Bull in 2006, which lured him to become competitive in the F1 era. The 2009 regulation reset presented the Briton with a blank canvas to paint his engineering marvel. The result? He created Vettel’s impressive car, which ruled the F1 circuit for 4 years.

Former McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen was all praises for Newey and credited him for his double championships. Mika wrote in his column for Unibet, “I am very happy for Red Bull’s technical boss Adrian Newey. 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 also said, “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.”

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2X Champion claims Red Bull ace Max Verstappen dominated the calendar year

Max Verstappen won the Japanese GP to take home his 2nd world title at Honda’s home race. The Dutch Lion has been unstoppable this season. The win in Suzuka is Verstappen’s 12th of the season. Mika Hakkinen, also a double world champion, claims Max Verstappen absolutely deserved his second title.

Hakkinen said, “From then on he was in a class of his own – really on top of the car. To win by 27 seconds after such a short race was brilliant. Max’s 12th win of the year really shows how much he deserved this year’s World Championship – he dominated.”

The Finn praised Verstappen for his brilliant race start in the Japanese GP. Moreover, he admired Max’s self-belief and confidence to hold on under pressure from Charles Leclerc.

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Do you agree with Finn’s view? Considering that Newey built cars that went on to win over 10 titles, should he be considered a GOAT?