Jordan: Newey and Horner can be fiery but it works

Coupled with the racing genius that is Max Verstappen, the Red Bull garage is home to a second genius, their 'drawing board' wizard Newey; undoubtedly one of the greatest, if not the greatest designers in Formula 1 history.

Newey's design team have provided Verstappen with virtually unbeatable cars which the RB18 nearly was last year, and the RB19 has yet to lose a race this year and good enough for team boss Christian Horner to target a clean sweep of 22 victories this year. Eight down 14 to go.

History shows that Newey is very much his own man, walking out of Williams and McLaren (after taking them to titles) before joining the Red Bull start-up in 2006, and the rest as they say is history. At the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, fittingly the 64-year-old celebrated on the podium.

It was the occasion of Verstappen's sixth win of the 2023 F1 season, but also Red Bull's 100th F1 victory, with a Newey-designed F1 car winning a 200th race on the same day. Beside him on that historic Montreal podium were three contemporary legends of the sport: winner Max, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

The trio's incredible combined 176 F1 victories were dwarfed that Sunday by the elder, non-driving propeller-head, in Blue, drenched in Champagne.

Inevitably, Jordan credits Newey for much of RBR's success in F1: “Longevity, loyalty, focus, attention to all the minor details. Even though sometimes it looks somewhat a little bit turbulent from the outside, Adrian Newey has found his natural home.

“Yes, he was good at Williams but he never really liked it there. He and Ron Dennis at McLaren, while they were massively successful, I think it just suits Adrian and the brain that he’s got to be at Red Bull. There are not many better brains in the entire universe, in my opinion, when it comes to getting speed out of something that you design."

Jordan also points to Christian Horner's role as Red Bull team principal as another important element: “The two key top people have been there for a very long time. It is remarkable to think that Horner and Newey have been with Red Bull for so long, whilst most other teams have carried out several changes of leadership.

“It’s not necessarily a marriage made in heaven. Sometimes that helps! Adrian can be a fiery guy, and Christian equally so, but it works," ventured Jordan, whose F1 team contested 250 Grands Prix, winning four before being sold off several times to be the Aston Martin F1 team of today