Decoding Adrian Newey: 'Difficult to work with', 'seriously demanding' and F1's greatest genius

Adrian Newey scowling with a cup of coffee — Photo: © IMAGO

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Decoding Newey: 'Difficult to work with', 'seriously demanding' and F1's greatest genius

McLaren couldn't handle Newey

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Wednesday 8 July 2026 17:30

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A former F1 colleague of Adrian Newey has lifted the lid on what it's like to work alongside the legendary design genius.

Newey has been in F1 for 38 years and been the mastermind behind world championship winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull for over three decades.

However, in 2025 he moved to Aston Martin for a new challenge in trying to turn the midfield team into championship contenders.

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This season's car is the first designed by the 67-year-old but it's been a terrible first year of Newey's latest project, with the team only having one point from nine races and being the slowest on the grid.

Granted, Aston Martin have delayed bringing upgrades to their cars until the end of July before the summer break at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but it doesn't hide the catastrophic season the team is having.

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Aston Martin must trust 'demanding' Newey

Mark Slade, a former F1 race engineer who worked with Newey at McLaren, insists Newey is working flat out spending time on development at the factory as well as travelling to Japan to work with Aston Martin's engine supplier Honda.

He said on Peter Windsor's podcast: "Adrian has always expected the people who are in charge of different areas to get on and do their jobs. Yes, he will be keeping tabs on what's going on, and bear in mind that the development work on the aero side, he's not going to be doing all of that himself, he's got other people doing that for him.

"He'll be giving guidance and saying the direction he wants to go, but he's still going to have time to keep on top of what was going on the engine side as well, and knowing Adrian and the position he's in, I'm sure he's spending a huge amount of time, at the factory, traveling potentially to Japan.

Adrian Newey became frustrated with difficult conditions at McLaren

Slade added that if Aston Martin are to get the best out of Newey then they will have to lean into his tough work demands, pointing towards how Red Bull won 15 world championships because of how they bought into his methods.

'McLaren couldn't cope' with Newey

"He doesn't work within the constraints that most people work with,: Slade continued. "It makes him difficult to work with, to be fair, McLaren couldn't cope with it, and that's ultimately why he left McLaren.

"The genius of Red Bull in that period, when he joined them until he eventually left, beginning of last year, was that they were able to cope with his demands, which are very serious, and they made it work.

"When you've got Adrian and your team, you kind of have to say, 'well, this guy does know what he's doing, he is very, very demanding, but it's up to us as a team to work with that.'"