Adrian Newey Reflects on “Expensive” Private Jet Ride & Secret Dinner Which Convinced Him to Join Struggling Red Bull & Ditch McLaren

Despite not being a driver or a team principal, Adrian Newey is one of the valued personalities in F1. His understanding of aerodynamics is second to none, and it shows in the results the RB19 is delivering. The engineer extraordinaire has helped develop every championship-winning car Red Bull has produced, from Sebastian Vettel‘s era to now Max Verstappen‘s. But before joining the Austrian team, Newey was under McLaren’s very handsome payroll. Then how did the Milton-Keynes-based team manage to poach him?

Newey had already earned a sort of cult status in F1 after his exploits with Williams and McLaren. Mind you, that was the time when Williams was among the most successful teams and a force to reckon with. Christian Horner, who was a young team principal of a new team that was rebranded from Jaguar to Red Bull, was a big fan of Adrian.

Adrian Newey tells how he made the switch from McLaren to Red Bull

It wasn’t just Horner who was a big Newey fan. David Coulthard, Red Bull’s former driver, was in awe of the man as well. Coulthard had worked with him during his stint at McLaren and Williams and was present at the secret dinner with Adrian and Christian, which kicked off the series of negotiations. The only problem was, Newey was still under a contract with McLaren.

Red Bull then arranged a private jet for him and his wife Marigold, Newey recalled in his autobiography ‘How to Build a Car’. To avoid getting recognized, he wore a baseball cap and flew to Salzburg, where Helmut Marko and then-Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz were waiting for him. Adrian and Marigold had agreed on asking the same salary that he was getting at McLaren. But that seemed a bit too steep to Mateschitz.

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The conversation on his salary negotiations seems to have come right out of a Hollywood blockbuster. Gerhard Berger, former F1 driver, and Mateschitz’s trusted Austrian confidante had to be consulted.

How Gerhard Berger got Mateschitz to sign Newey

Mateschitz passed away last year but left a lasting impact on his team. Unlike other team owners, he was involved a lot more. Perhaps that is why almost every driver who drove for his team keeps him in very high regard. Max Verstappen went as far as dedicating his US Grand Prix win as a tribute to him. Dietrich’s involvement in Newey’s addition to the team was of utmost importance as well.

Newey wrote, “First of all, the Austrians had to be convinced that I was worth the price. Dietrich then probably called Gerhard Berger. He remembers that Dietrich asked: ‘Gerhard, we have Adrian Newey here in Salzburg, but it’s very expensive. What should we do?” [Translated using Google]

“Gerhard: ‘Depends on how important it is to you to really make progress.’ I have to be very grateful to Gerhard for that. You have to let Dietrich know that he’s not a stingy man and that he doesn’t push around. If Gerhard Berger said I was worth the price, then I should have it.”

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And that was enough to convince the Red Bull owner about Newey’s worth. Since then, the Briton has proved his worth in gold. Perhaps that is the reason why teams like Mercedes and Ferrari wanted him as well.