The 'bard' of F1

To me, Stratford-upon-Avon would always be known for two people. One, Shakespeare - who essayed some of the finest plays ever and two, one Mr. Adrian Newey who essayed some of the mightiest machines to have raced on a formula one tarmac. For a kid who grew up tinkering old karts because he could not afford a new one, Adrian Newey has indeed come a long way. The McLaren technical director would now move over to Red Bull, a team that has amazed one and all in 2006, its debut season.

The ace aerodynamist cum designer cum technical director is considered one of the best ever race engineers, with over eighty grand prix titles under his belt. At one point of time in the late 1990's, Adrian stood head and shoulders over his peers with six of the previous ten constructor's championships under his belt. Having served with March Indycar and March F1, Adrian's first taste of success was at Williams in 1992 with Nigel Mansell taking the driver's title. His first would have come a year earlier had it not been for reliability issues and a genius named Ayrton Senna. Adrian then led Williams to two more titles before Ron Dennis lured him away to McLaren.

At McLaren, Adrian would dazzle for a couple of years, winning the constructor's in 1998 and 1999. The year 2000 would see Mika Hakkinen lose the driver's title by a whisker, and thence, Adrian would have to wait for half a decade while Rory Bryne designed Scuderia Ferrari's would rule the roost. However, with the rules changing for 2005, Adrian would come back with a strong performance, and McLaren would power they way back to the top, coming second in the driver's and constructor's championships. Had McLaren sorted out its reliability issues a little earlier in the season and won the Constructor's championship, it would have been a fitting tribute to the master of all designers.

After having been wooed unsuccessfully once by Jaguar racing in 2001, Newey will now move to Red Bull racing, a team that has failed to amaze me in the past year. A stunning 34 points in a transition year, followed by the acquisition of Minardi and the brilliant driver's program, Red Bull will now have the services of Newey for 2006 and more importantly 2007 when the aerodynamics regulations change yet again. And thats exactly what Newey is good at - 'change of plans!'.