Newey rewarded by the Motorsport Industry Association

Adrian Newey was honored by the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) for his brilliant career in motorsport. The Red Bull Racing technical director received his award from Damon Hill.

« I am happy that Adrian has won this award. His multiple successes have helped keep Britain at the top of motorsport, » said Alistair Ferguson, president of the Motorsport Industry Association.

« Adrian’s personal contribution to the motor sport industry can be easily summed up in one word: inspiration!, » emphasizes, for his part, Chris Aylett, CEO of the MIA.

This award celebrates a 30-year career for the Briton. Barely out of school in 1980, he already joined F1 with the Fittipaldi Automotive team. The following year, he was recruited by March Engineering. The company was involved in numerous competitions, and Newey dabbled in a bit of everything. He served as the race engineer for Johnny Cecotto and helped March achieve some successes in CART.

In 1986, he returned to F1 with the Anglo-American team Force. The adventure did not last very long, as the team quickly went out of business. Newey then returned to March, where he took the position of chief engineer for the F1 team. The strong performances of the British team’s cars during the 1988 season made Newey one of the prominent figures of the moment. In 1990, March, which became Leyton-House, fired him. The performances of Newey’s latest creation were too inconsistent, and the team decided to part ways with him.

He then finds refuge with Williams with the success we know, four drivers’ world championships and five constructors’ championships between 1991 and 1997. But when Villeneuve pops the champagne to celebrate his world championship title, Newey has already moved on to other opportunities. The English engineer has been recruited by McLaren, who appoints him as technical director. Once again, the ‘Newey effect’ will soon be felt as Mika Hakkinen dominates the 98 and 99 championships and could undoubtedly have claimed a third title in 2000 without reliability issues.

In 2001, Newey was about to leave McLaren to join his old friend Bobby Rahal (met at March in CART) at Jaguar. Ultimately, he decided to stay with McLaren for a few more seasons. In 2005, the MP4-20 was the fastest car on the grid but it suffered from reliability issues, and it was Fernando Alonso who clinched the world title against Kimi Räikkönen.

The following season, Newey leaves McLaren to join the Red Bull team, founded on the still-warm ashes of Jaguar. The regulation changes implemented in 2009 allow the Austrian team to take a leading role in the championship against the Brawn team. In 2010, Vettel delivers the driver’s title to the red bull, which also claims the constructor’s title. The duo is also set to make it two in a row this season.

Newey adds his name to a prestigious list, as Ross Brawn, Sir Frank Williams, Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Jackie Stewart, and Bernie Ecclestone have also been honored by the MIA in the past.