Design legend Adrian Newey admits to regretting the fact that he never got to work with Ferrari or drivers such as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

If ever there was an inhabitant of Planet Paddock that you'd imagine would have no cause to echo Edith Piaf's cry of Non, je ne regrette rien, it would be Adrian Newey. After all, the Briton has designed world championship winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull not to mention Indy 500 winners and CART champions.

However, talking to the Beyond the Grid podcast, the 64-year-old admits to a number of regrets.

Like many, be it designers, engineers, team bosses and drivers, Newey admits that Maranello outfit held a fascination for him.

Asked if he regrets never working with Ferrari, he relies: "Emotionally, I guess, to a point, yes...

"But just as, for instance, working with Fernando and Lewis would have been fabulous. But it never happened. It's just circumstance sometimes, that's the way it is."

In fact, Newey was first approached just ahead of the golden era of the early 2000s, while in 2014 there was another bid by Ferrari to secure his services.

"Once in my IndyCar days, which probably doesn't count," he reveals, "then '93 and famously in 2014.

"The '93 one was very tempting," he admits. "I went down, Jean Todt had just started. I remember him talking about should he hire Michael (Schumacher) or not, and asking me 'do you think that was a good idea?'

"The main reason I didn't is my first marriage failed, for various reasons, but probably predominantly because I went off to IndyCar, I was living in the States during the season. My relatively newly-wed life came out with me to start with, really didn't like living in America and went back. That put a strain on our marriage we never really recovered from, to be honest.

"In '93, I was one year into my second marriage and didn't want to make that same mistake again."

Of course, when John Barnard was approached by Ferrari in the late '80s, he insisted on setting up his design HQ in Surrey, England.

"I never asked the question and I don't believe it," says Newey when asked if he had considered a similar move. "If you're going to do it, Ferrari is an Italian team. The idea of having a research and design centre which is in a completely different place to the race team - I know we have a sister team (AlphaTauri) that does that - but I don't believe in the concept.

"My discussions in 2014 with Ferrari were purely out of frustration," he admits. "I really didn't want to leave but we were in this position where Renault hadn't produced a competitive turbo hybrid engine.

"That happens in the first year, OK, new rules. We all make mistakes. "But we went to see (then Renault CEO) Carlos Ghosn, Christian, Helmut and myself to try to put pressure on him to up the budget, his reply was: 'Well, I have no interest in Formula 1. I'm only in it because my marketing people say I should be'. That was such a depressing place to be."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 01/10/2023 9:22

"Newey's cars have always been excellent. The recent cars have been so good that though initially let down by a sub-par Power Unit they were still able to give Mercedes a run for their money. When Honda delivered a really competitive package the RBR was demonstrably superior.

The revised aero rules, specifying ground effect, were manna from heaven & I doubt too many long-suffering fans were surprised that Newey delivered the supreme interpretation of those rules. As a consequence RBR (a brilliantly focused team) is running a car which is significantly faster than anything else, with a talented driver.

Records will continue to fall & assuming Newey stays to do the 2026 car & Horner's boasts about the PU are correct, expect several RBR to come out ahead, though maybe not quite as far ahead as at present."

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2. Posted by equator180, 01/10/2023 6:24

"He is now working with the best that ever was according to Bernie and the records that have and will be broken are testament to that. Would Lewis or Alonso have been any better with Adrian, probably, but even so nothing to compare to the driver(s) he is now working with."

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3. Posted by Team Hack, 29/09/2023 11:16

"Yes, but what if Adrian went out on his own as a freelance consultant?
He could work with Fernando and Lewis while he sorted a few cars out at the same time inc Merc,Haas,Alfa-Sauber et al.
He might even get the odd weekend off...
Simples."

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4. Posted by BillH, 29/09/2023 6:37

"I think McLaren would have regrets back when Newey left, that they couldn't keep him.

Interesting insight into Renault's attitude to F1 all the same."

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5. Posted by ClarkwasGod, 28/09/2023 18:24

"I suspect both Hamilton and Alonso feel the same"

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Newey admits to regrets

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