Christian Horner Showers Love on ‘Superhuman’ Adrian Newey for Helping Red Bull Transform F1

Have you ever sat back and thought about what makes an F1 car so special? Is it the engine? To some degree yes, but there are road cars that produce 1500+ HP. Is it the open-wheel nature or the Top Speed? Not really. Then what is it? It’s Aerodynamic. The ability to channel the air around the car to create downforce whilst following the regulations. And we all know Adrian Newey is one of the best at this. Christian Horner has now come out to shower love on Newey for transforming the Red Bull F1 team. 

Red Bull Racing started life when Jaguar was bought in 2004 by the Energy Drink company. And you might think, Red Bull bought a competitive team and continued the legacy. No, the Jaguar was nowhere near the front. It was the efforts of Christian Horner and co. to take the team to the very front of the grid. It’s almost similar to what Lawrence Stroll is doing with the Aston Martin team, a complete makeover. 

Despite the early effort, there was still a piece missing in the puzzle. Horner described it as the team having a technical direction. This is where Adrian Newey came in and changed everything. He made the team believe in themselves. Things got serious and the aim changed from finishing in the midfield to winning the championship. It wasn’t just the skills that Newey brought in but also the mindset of winning. 

Speaking of Adrian Newey’s role on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Christian Horner said, “One of the key things for me was missing from the moment that I arrived was clear technical direction. And growing up, I’d always been a fan of Adrian Newey and the cars that he created. I very early set my sights. Adrian is the best in the business. Technically the guy that can see air molecules. And so I made it my target to try and attract Adrian to bring him into the team. I was able to make that happen. And I think once Adrian joined, it instilled a belief within the organization that we’re not here to finish 2nd.”

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Horner described Newey as the guy who sees air molecules. If someone asks me what superpower I want, that right there will be my answer. I mean the man built the RB19, the most dominant car in the history of F1. So the RB20 is only going to be more dominant, right? Horner advised on the same. 

“Evolution not Revolution”: Christian Horner on the RB20

Everyone was shocked when Mercedes came to the 2023 season with a flawed Zeropod design. Following a radical design isn’t always the answer. And Mercedes realized it and moved to a more conventional sidepod design mid-season. Christian Horner talked about how the RB20 is going to be an evolution of the RB19 and not a completely different design philosophy. It makes sense as the RB19 was so dominant and the team understands the concept well, so why not improve on something that you already understand?

According to Motorsport.com, Horner when asked about the RB20 said, “Evolution not revolution. All areas have been revisited in the car, and we can’t afford to have any complacency. So the car is very much an evolution of a theme. We’re not reinventing the wheel, and that has been very much the route of the engineering path over the last 12 months. I’m fully expecting with stable regs and diminishing returns for us because I think we got to the top of the curve quicker than others, the field is going to converge”

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