Adrian Newey’s 7 best racing cars

It says more that onlookers have hardly batted an eyelid at that monumental sum, rather accepted that the greatest F1 designer of all time is very much worth that investment. He has, after all, delivered 25 world championships between 1992 and 2023 with cars designed for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull.

Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkkinen, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen can all attribute thanks to Newey for the cars he delivered for them, and Aston Martin will be hoping to add some more names to that list.

Several of Newey’s designs will find their way into the list of the greatest F1 cars of all time, but let’s take a closer look at his finest works, starting with his early days with the March team’s IndyCar project.

March 86C

Fresh out of university, Newey’s career began in 1980 and he joined March in ’81, where he was first responsible for working on the team’s GTP project with the March 83G. That car won the IMSA GT Championship in 1983 and ’84, but it paved the way for Newey to move across to March’s IndyCar project, where he designed the March 85C and the March 86C which both proved to be by far and away the fastest chassis in the field.

In all, 16 teams including Penske ran with the 86C over the course of the 1986 IndyCar season, and it won 14 of the 17 races including the Indy 500. It carried Bobby Rahal to the championship, while Michael Andretti and Danny Sullivan completed a top three of March 86C drivers. Penske also chose to run it again at the 1987 Indy 500 where Al Unser Sr. drove to victory once again.

March 881

After a couple of years flitting between IndyCar and F1, Newey was rehired by March to take on the role of Chief Designer for the F1 team. His first F1 car was the March 881, which he designed for the 1988 season for drivers Ivan Capelli and Maurício Gugelmin.

The 881 was the first evidence that Adrian Newey’s grasp on car design was different to everyone else’s. It’s a beautiful car, first and foremost, but it has that slimline nose, those extreme chiselled sidepods and a sculpted engine cover reminiscent of his most recent Red Bull designs. It was distinct from everything else on the grid in 1988, and while initially stifled by its underpowered and unreliable Judd V8, Capelli eventually managed to score two podium finishes in the second half of the season to underline the 881s inherent potential.

Williams FW14B

While the results never quite came with March and Leyton House, Newey’s talents were obvious, and it wasn’t long before a top team came calling. Patrick Head at Williams secured his signature in 1990 and he immediately got to work on the new FW14 for 1991. With a big new budget and an established world championship-winning team to support him, Newey finally had the infrastructure to develop a winning car, and he duly delivered.

Early reliability struggles scuppered the chances of championship glory in ’91, but once those gremlins were ironed out the FW14B became one of the most dominant cars in F1 history. While not wholly attributable to Newey’s design exploits, the FW14B was also the most technologically advanced F1 car of all time with active suspension, traction control and a semi-automatic transmission.

Such was its superiority that the FW15 intended to race for the majority of 1992 was never used, and instead held back to race in FW15C form in ’93.

Williams FW18

By 1996, Adrian Newey was getting used to winning and fighting for world championships, and the FW18 was another masterpiece. In our opinion it’s one of the most beautiful F1 cars of all time, and its sumptuous curves translated into substantial speed.

It won 12 races in all, eight for eventual champion Damon Hill, and four for Jacques Villeneuve, and stormed to what at the time was one of the most dominant constructors’ championship triumphs in history, beating Ferrari by 105 points. You can see in the sculpting of the sidepods, and the way the additional mandated cockpit protection has been incorporated, that Newey was again a step ahead of the competition in the aerodynamics stakes.

McLaren MP4/13

Newey joined McLaren as Technical Director in 1997, and his first proper involvement was to oversee the design and development of the MP4/13 that would compete in the 1998 F1 season. Surprise, surprise, it was the class of the field, but on a level even Newey hadn’t managed before. This was his first attempt at tackling a major regulation change, and it’s safe to say he once again proved his talent with a pencil was above all others.

Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard locked out the front row at round one in Melbourne and finished a lap ahead of the rest of the field. Häkkinen won eight races on his way to the title, and McLaren fought off the spirited challenge of Ferrari to take the constructors’ championship.

Red Bull RB9

A decade on from his success with McLaren overseeing a major regulation overhaul, Newey was at it again in 2009 with Red Bull Racing. Almost overnight, Red Bull went from the lower end of the midfield to fighting for the championship, and it was the man at the drawing board who was once again instrumental in that fact. The RB6 brought the team its first titles in 2010, but Newey perfected his concept for this era of car in 2013 with the RB9.

The team had gone on a hugely impressive run of three consecutive championship doubles with Sebastian Vettel, but that simply wasn’t enough for the man once described as the most competitive individual in the F1 paddock. The dominance of the RB9 was unprecedented as Vettel went on a nine-race winning streak, taking 13 in all, on his way to his fourth title.

Red Bull RB19

It was unprecedented, and unmatched, until Newey trumped himself by designing the most successful F1 car of all time ten years later. He’d already reminded the world yet again why he is considered the greatest F1 designer of all time when his concept for the RB18 made a mockery of the competition as Max Verstappen strolled to his second drivers’ title, but in his own typical style he moved the needle yet further in 2023 as Red Bull and Verstappen made history together.

The team looked nailed on to win every race that season as Verstappen embarked on a record-breaking ten-race winning run, but a shock blip in Singapore ruined the potential for a clean sweep. Despite that very minor disappointment, the RB19 was a scary car with scary connotations for the rest of the grid. Adrian Newey is getting better with age, and there’s no sign that his star is fading just yet. Aston Martin must be very excited.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.