The worst moments of Adrian Newey’s career? The accidents of Ayrton Senna and Max Verstappen. Adrian Newey reflected on the most dramatic memories of his career.

With 13 World Drivers’ titles and 12 Constructors’ titles to his name, Adrian Newey is undoubtedly the most successful designer in the history of Formula 1. His career in the Circus is not over yet, with a new chapter soon awaiting him at Aston Martin at the age of 66. However, despite his long and highly successful career, there have been negative moments, some of which the British designer hopes never to experience again.

Silverstone 2021: Verstappen
Two particular incidents have deeply shocked him, with the most recent one recounted in the High Performance podcast, dating back to the 2021 British Grand Prix. It was the scene of Max Verstappen’s violent crash into the barriers at Silverstone after his collision with Lewis Hamilton. The deceleration was estimated at 51 G, which frightened many spectators and the entire Red Bull team, including Adrian Newey: “It’s a terrible feeling when you have to witness these accidents,” he recalled. “Max’s crash at Silverstone was the last one where I thought, ‘Is he okay? I hope he’s not seriously injured.’ When Max spoke on the radio, he grunted because he was struggling to breathe. It took him a week to recover. The sport has made enormous progress in terms of safety, but everyone in the industry realizes that it is an illusion to believe nothing can happen anymore. There will always be terrible accidents like the one involving Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert in Belgium in 2019; there is no such thing as total safety.”

Imola 1994: Ayrton Senna
An episode that adds to the worst moment of all in Newey’s career was the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, when Ayrton Senna tragically lost his life. At the time, Newey was the designer of the Williams FW16, and he reflected on that tragic period in the Beyond the Grid podcast: “The car was aerodynamically unstable. We had two years of active suspension behind us, and when we had to switch to conventional suspension due to a regulation change, I ruined the aerodynamics. The car was very, very difficult to drive, and the more bumpy the track, the worse it was. Imola was very bumpy, yet Senna was setting great times. Ayrton’s confidence was immense. After his death, I thought about quitting. If you don’t have these thoughts, if you don’t question yourself after such a tragedy, there’s something wrong with you, but if Patrick Head and I had stopped, everything at Williams would have collapsed. I had miscalculated the car’s aerodynamics. The window in which the car worked was too small,” he continued, explaining what emerged after a test at Nogaro. “I went out on track and observed our car. Like Imola, it was a track with many bumps. I immediately understood what the problem with our car was. The sidepods were too long. As a result, the airflow in the diffuser would break up when the car lowered at the front because the front end of the sidepods was too close to the track. From today’s perspective, it seems ridiculous, but at the time, we didn’t have the tools to spot the problem in advance in the wind tunnel. I still feel a certain responsibility for Ayrton’s death, but not a sense of guilt.”