Adrian Newey Goes on a Ballistic Rant Against FIA, Blaming Them for Red Bull’s Own Domination

Adrian Newey has been pushing Red Bull ever since he joined in 2006. Before this, he was with March/Leyton House from 1988 to 1990, then Williams between 1991 and 1996. Before joining the Red Bulls, he last worked at McLaren from 1997 to 2005, which gives him a good idea of how F1 cars have been designed for the last few decades. After perfecting the rules that the 2022 regulations implied, many have started to point a finger at Newey for the sport becoming monotonous.

The RB20 is currently the most dominant car on the track, taking a lead of 5 tenths of a second every lap. This explains why Max Verstappen led the Bahrain Grand Prix with a 22+ seconds lead. Most of the credit for this performance is given to Adrian Newey. However, not everyone is enjoying the Red Bulls winning almost every race, and Newey along with Max Verstappen is being blamed for making the sport monotonous. Upon hearing such claims, Newey has taken to the media to answer who he thinks is the real culprit of this happening.

About this, Newey had something to say during his interview with Motorsport.com. According to the mastermind engineer, “Unless you make it artificial, which then starts to become like WWF, then I’m not sure you can.” By this, Newey explained how F1 will need to be scripted to make other teams win at the moment. Holding the FIA responsible for the regulations changes, he said, “The reality is that the regulations we currently have are arguably the most restrictive ones we’ve ever had.”

Working within the limitations of the regulations is something that Newey followed and about that, he said, “Each new set of regulations tend to be more restrictive than the previous ones, and the cost cap has also been introduced to restrict the spending of the largest teams versus the smallest teams.” The cost cap implementation was what led to the downfall of Mercedes, however, other smaller teams have not yet benefitted from this. As Newey said, “And yet, the competitive order under the cost cap hasn’t changed significantly,” things are looking grim for the other teams. But what does this mean for the future?

Will the 2026 regulation changes affect Red Bull’s performance?

Formula 1 is trying to move towards a 0% net carbon emission, and the goal for this is set for 2030. The upcoming 2026 regulations are to ease that change in the sport by introducing  100% sustainable fuels. The new power units will run on more electrical power than fuels, which will assist the braking energy with the MGU-K, producing 3 times more the power of the current engines. The cars will pump out over 1000 horsepower despite the lesser usage of fuels and this will call for significant changes to the Red Bull car.

Whether the new regulations will work in Red Bull’s favor is yet to be seen, but as long as Adrian Newey continues to be in the team, the Milton Keynes outfit will have an advantage. Newey’s knowledge of the sport and engines over the years makes him a highly adaptable designer and this might result in Red Bull continuing its dominance after the 2026 changes. A move towards a lesser carbon footprint is a step towards a greener sport, but this is bound to upset some petrolheads.

That being said, do you think the 2026 regulation changes will make F1 feel more like FE? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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