Adrian Newey’s autobiography is called How to Build a Car. It’s a rather dry title that suggests there might be a certain aridity of tone within. It’s actually very funny in places, not to mention intriguing, inspiring, and an insight into the man that many regard as the greatest F1 designer ever – his cars have won 12 F1 Constructors’ Championships and enabled 13 Drivers’ Championships (at the time of writing, this season alone, his car, the most dominant F1 car ever, has garnered 19 wins from 20) and there was also conspicuous success in IndyCar in the Eighties.
So innate is his ability to understand the vagaries of physics and aerodynamics that any opportunity to talk to Newey – and it’s rarely granted – is underpinned by the naked terror of simply not being able to keep up. But he’s affable, engaging and smiles a lot. He’s just returned from Daytona where he was racing his GT40 with Ford CEO Jim Farley. I also discover he lived in the turbulent Compton neighbourhood in South Central LA during the mid-Eighties. The man who draws F1’s fastest cars by hand has clearly had quite the life. We thought it was time to celebrate it.