Adrain Newey's move to RBR/Breaking News Newey to RBR (merged)

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Nintendo

Remember what happened to williams when Newey left?

This is different.

Newey leaving Williams shocked them.

McLaren has planned its technical department around this eventuality.

[Nintendo]

I thought they knew his contract was about to expire? McLaren will do well after he leaves, but still it must have caught them a little off guard

[Kicking-back]

Williams never expected Newey to leave.

McLaren have known since much earlier this year, at least, that it was very likely Adrian would go.

[Dutton]

However, Mclaren won't have rubbish customer engines.

Also, their overall strength in-depth, when compared to Williams in 1997, IMHO, has to be seen as superior.

Additionally, as others have said, his move from Williams was pretty sudden, but Mclaren will have been well aware of this coming. I imagine the extension was, in effect, Ron accepting the inevitable; therefore, he was pragmatic and wanted to ensure he had Adrian signed up for the whole 2005 season, whilst he did the final sorting out in preparation for Newey's deprture.

However, I think there will be some sort of perceptible short-term negative impact on the team. A major member of the team is leaving, so it will take a bit of time for everything to adjust and settle down again. I wouldn't expect it to be drastic or anything, but to suggest there won't be any, or that it will hardly be noticeable, I think would be misguided.

For sure, this news is very interesting, and gives us something to think about during the off-season ;-).

[RaceFreak]

This is huge. Bigger than huge. Let's see...in the past 12 months Mateschitz 1. Buys out Jag-then (controversially) fires the design staff
2. Hires a driver who re-invents himself and energizes the team
3. Scores perhaps the biggest engine deal ever as Sauber sells to BMW; at a critical time fron an engine-spec change perspective
4. Buys out Minardi; and we all wondered why...
5. Pulls the plug on his IRL program, and with it his biggest market exposure
6. Now lands the most successfull designer of the past 10 years. Watch for new and high-tech competitive machines coming from his draftboard; Yachts, motorcycles, unlimited air racing, FIA Rally, Paris-Dakar, can endurance cars be far behind ?

I now officially retract my comment from a previous thread that "Mateschiz is a flake". Wrong again, Racefreak....

I gotta meet this guy !

[Dutton]

You thought he was flake? What on Earth made you think that?

[Nintendo]

Yeah, i thought he was just someone trying to make some moeny and nothing else. I was wrong, he wants to build up the tram.

[touringlegend]

I sort of half expected this after reading a story on Adrian Newey not being certain about staying at McLaren next year as his contract ran out.

Big coup for RBR though.

[Kicking-back]

For info:

Originally Posted by McLaren

The pressures of working for a front-running Formula One team are intense and we have been aware for quite some time that Adrian was looking for a new challenge with a smaller team.

The decision to leave McLaren was both amicable and mutual and we wish him all the best in the future.

For the past two years Adrian has been fully involved in the restructuring of McLaren's technical team in preparation for his planned departure.

McLaren announced in April that Newey would be playing a less hands-on role at the team, with Paddy Lowe promoted to engineering director and ex-Ferrari employee Nicholas Tombazis appointed vehicle project director.

[Dutton]

Yep, all top teams have such structures in place. This is what one should expect.

[Bellof]

Originally Posted by RaceFreak

6. Now lands the most successfull designer of the past 10 years.

you mean after rory byrne ?

[alf]

Originally Posted by Andydickens

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that no-one 'earns' $10m per year. I understand that people can create $10m of value for their company, but their compensation seems a little extreme. Still, I'd rather give Adrian Newey $10m for designing a massively complex, bleeding edge machine than give David Beckham $10m for kicking an inflated pigs bladder around a field with 21 other hypochondriac cheats.

er lets not be offensive to people please. who says that footballers are cheats. that is a riddiculous thing to say. is Yvan Muller not a cheat then when he pushes others off the track, and then moans about hislot for the whole afternoon? was Schumacher a cheat when he pushed Hill and tried to push Jaques off the track? what about Senna, he had his moments did he not?.. no insults please.

[alf]

Originally Posted by Nintendo

Remember what happened to williams when Newey left?

are you not aka Tod U mptious then???

[SpawnyWhippet]

Originally Posted by alf

er lets not be offensive to people please. who says that footballers are cheats. that is a riddiculous thing to say. is Yvan Muller not a cheat then when he pushes others off the track, and then moans about hislot for the whole afternoon? was Schumacher a cheat when he pushed Hill and tried to push Jaques off the track? what about Senna, he had his moments did he not?.. no insults please.

I am not trying to be offensive or insulting. I don't like cheats in any sport. Its just that every single game of football I have ever watched has had players 'diving' whilst being tackled. They then roll around on the floor grimacing and clutching their knee. When you watch the slowmo replay, you see there was no contact whatsoever, and they are just trying for a free kick. When they get up, they limp gamely for 2.6 secs, then run around like nothing happened. If thats not blatant cheating, what is? My feeling is that once a player is rolling around on the ground in pain, he should sent off for the rest of the game as a safety precaution. It will soon stop.

In answer to your questions re Schumacher, Muller et al, yes, they cheated too and deserved to be punished, hence Schumacher being stripped of his 2nd place in the World Drivers Championship in 1997

[RaceFreak]

[QUOTE=Dutton]You thought he was flake? What on Earth made you think that?[/QUOTE

Good follow-up question...

After purchasing the team, he sacked the design staff which were the main reason for the car's early success. Seemed like a 'marketing' oriented guy trying to cut the budget and maximize the PR return but without real substantive engineering foundation. (Afterall, he was staying with the mainly-unsuccessful Cheever Racing IRL team; basically for the market exposure in US markets. Read:Indy 500) When he dumped the surprisingly successful Cossie for the Ferarri engine, I had visions of the Jordan/Toyota bodge-up. I honestly began to doubt his sanity when purchasing Minardi, given that it would divide his resources between two very disparate chassis/engine packages, decreasing the effectiveness of BOTH teams. I advised DC to "run for his life' during contract talks fearing a debacle would seem to come down on HIS head. He seemed very vulnerable in a team more marketing oriented than engineering oriented. That view changes entirely with the arrival of Adrian Newey. I don't think he would have made the jump with certain assurance of future, interesting projects (and the do$h to fund them).

and yes... Rory Byrne is certainly in the running for designer of the decade, too. Seems he's spoken for, though.

[JeremySmith]

Good news, it's about time he had a fresh challenge..Well done RBR!

[Stargazer7]

I think Newey really wanted a new challenge. And to be more thorough, a new challenge like this. Not Ferrari, not even Honda or Toyota..
He seems to be tired of all the pressure from being in such a responsible position in a top class team. As he oftenly stated, he was actually thinking seriously of retiring and going on with his plan of designing boats!

Red Bull seems a good chance to ease off a little bit. And to push it even further, he will be absolutely free to experiment on his potential ideas for 2007 new aero regs. Don't forget, Red Bull is at Mosley's side...

As a matter of fact this contributes to Max's plans for a new Concorde Agreement in 2007. His side is more powerful now, isn't it? At least more competitive. If they manage to take Toyota on their side too, they really have a good chance.

[alf]

In answer to your questions re Schumacher, Muller et al, yes, they cheated too and deserved to be punished, hence Schumacher being stripped of his 2nd place in the World Drivers Championship in 1997[/QUOTE]


fair enoughski escept that to any other driver 2nd place would be ... worth having, and a loss were it taken from you. to some one like Shuie 2nd was a failure any way and he probably didn't care, you notice they never took any of his TITLES when there were question marks over some shenanagins, ie the barge board over size ( all be it a mm or 2) pushing Hill contact with dc in belgiumetc,
ps I am not a Shuie hater, I would just love to see him in a real battle with a tem mate for a change, and all his victories with an inferior, or supporting team mate are diluted for that fact

[Super Tourer]

Let's stick to the topic please and not wander off onto old ground that we have covered many times before on the forum.....

As several posters have mentioned, McLaren had a structure in place around Newey.

The only rider I would add to that is that the MP4-18 and the car that was spawned from it, were both cars that I believe Newey didn't totally agree with and were allegedly the subject of a 'power struggle' in the design team led by MD Martin Whitmarsh who allegedly backed continuing with the MP4-18 and developing the concept into the 19 version, when Newey felt the car was fundamentally wrong and needed a new approach. It's noticable that when he 'drove' the development of the B version of the 2004 car it was immediately quicker.

Of course we don't know who does what at McLaren or who was largely responsible for the 2005 car. I guess 2007 will be the test, it will be AN's first RBR and McLaren's first car for many years without input from him.

[Kicking-back]

As far as I recall the MP4-18 debacle was set in motion before Tombazis joined the team

[Gt_R]

No matter how Mclaren have attempted to build a team that took into account Adrian Newey's presence, a talent like Newey isn't that easily replaced. But i have no doubt, that by extending Newey's contract til next January and having him do work on the 2006 car, Ron has done his best to minimise any disruption that Newey's departure may cause. Combined with the technical depth Mclaren has, it would just be a small ripple, nothing more. Tombazis is a good fella that Mclaren had managed to scoop from Ferrari.

The bigger concern would be with regards to how the engine cope, and whether the developement of the car would be affected, not just through 2006, but also when the new regulations kick in.

It's good news for Red Bull though. Signals strong intend, and credibility of Red Bull Racing.

hmm.. too bad it came a year too late. Otherwise, we would have seen a Newey-designed Ferrari vs a Schumacher-driving-Ferrari. Or a Newey-Ferrari vs a Rory-Ferrari.

[Big-O]

Originally Posted by Gt_R

It's good news for Red Bull though. Signals strong intend, and credibility of Red Bull Racing.

hmm.. too bad it came a year too late. Otherwise, we would have seen a Newey-designed Ferrari vs a Schumacher-driving-Ferrari. Or a Newey-Ferrari vs a Rory-Ferrari.

I second that ... Would truly have bin interesting to watch

[BootsOntheSide]

McLaren basically have a year to get a unit in place that can match waht Newey was capable of. For 2006 they won't lose out too much on the aero side, as long as his initial design is sound, but with completely new regulations for 2007 a good aero package will be essential. of course, it could be that someone else will get the hang of the new rules sooner than Adrian.

[Pingguest]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

McLaren basically have a year to get a unit in place that can match waht Newey was capable of. For 2006 they won't lose out too much on the aero side, as long as his initial design is sound, but with completely new regulations for 2007 a good aero package will be essential. of course, it could be that someone else will get the hang of the new rules sooner than Adrian.

I second that. The aerodynamics will become even more important from 2007, because of the introduction of the control tyre.

[Kicking-back]

Adrian Newey: "Ron is a great friend both professionally and personally".



This is clearly amicable.