One of the most successful engineers in F1 history, Newey has been a cornerstone of Red Bull since joining in 2006, contributing to the team's 13 world titles, including seven in total with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship and six in the builders one.
After undertaking several projects at the Red Bull Group since 2014, Newey stepped back from the day-to-day management of F1's technical affairs when Wache was promoted to technical director in 2018. Although he is close to retirement, the 65-year-old Briton continues to participate in the design of the cars of the team and his contribution is considered fundamental to their competitiveness.
“It is irreplaceable, yes – it cannot be replaced!”. Wache told Motorsport.com. “On a day-to-day basis, it's not part of our process. It comes more from the outside and tries to help us or challenge us on different aspects of the team, such as mechanical design, aerodynamics or vehicle dynamics.”
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Pierre Wache, race engineer, Red Bull Racing, Helmut Marko, consultant, Red Bull Racing, in the garage
Newey's experience is considered invaluable after nearly two decades at Red Bull and previous successful spells at Williams and McLaren. Wache believes Newey has “the most experience on the grid in terms of engineering” and agrees that he now acts as a mentor to the team.
“We must also use him for his experience, since he has less time for us. It's more… I don't know how to say it in English, when you say that someone is there to challenge an aspect of things. He's not there to do the plan, to do the complete concept of the car.”
Asked whether Newey now acts as a sounding board, with the team pitching ideas to him, Wache confirmed: “Definitely. And then he's challenging us. I would say he's more inspiring than [essere d’accordo]”.
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, Adrian Newey, Chief Technology Officer, Red Bull Racing, celebrate in Parc Ferme after the Sprint
“I think that's good. Because when you take a step back, you also see different things. He has a different background than all of us. Also, he has knowledge that we don't have. Because we haven't experienced it yet.”
In addition to Newey's experience, the Frenchman is particularly impressed by his humility, noting that he creates a healthy work environment: “He is a very intelligent person and very open-minded. Very successful people usually [pensano] that their idea is the best, but he isn't like that. He is very open minded. I think he's working that way, as a mentor and challenging us.”
Additional report by Ronald Vording
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