Adrian Newey 'the last dinosaur in F1'

Max Verstappen and Adrian Newey celebrating his win in Monaco — Photo: © LAT Images

Red Bull

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Newey 'the last dinosaur in F1'

Newey is famed for his reliance on a drawing board for design

Sam Hall

Monday 12 July 2021 08:00

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Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey has described himself as "the last dinosaur" in F1 for his continued reliance on a drawing board when designing new machinery.

Newey has designed more championship-winning cars than any other individual and also holds the unique distinction of winning titles with three different teams - McLaren, Williams and Red Bull.

Despite his famed preference for using a drawing board, Newey explained he has nothing against the CAD systems used by the new generation of designers.

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"In truth, in that sense, I'm the last dinosaur in the industry," he said. "I grew up on the drawing board and to me it's like a language. It's what I'm proficient in.

"With CAD versus drawing boards, it's swings versus roundabouts. To me, it's simply a way of communicating what's in your head to a medium that you can develop from.

"To me, the first language is a drawing board and sketching. To the young guys, their first language is CAD. It's horses for courses and age."

Newey completes childhood dream

Away from his day job, Newey has taken part in a number of historic races and owns a Lotus 49 from 1969.

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the 62-year-old was given an opportunity to get behind the wheel of the Tyrrell 003, Sir Jackie Stewart's first F1 title-winning car.

He said: "It's very special for me because the first car of Tamiya model kits I built when I was about 10 or 11 was of a Lotus 49 which I am now lucky enough to own and the second was this car.

"Those kits were great because they teach you how the car goes together, how the suspension moves, how a Formula 1 car works from a chassis point of view, so having built that kit to now actually having had the opportunity to drive both the cars, the Lotus and the Tyrrell, is special."