They can’t have it both ways though, claim that he’s not all that important, and then impose a huge long garden leave becasue…what? He’s been designing a road car?

They’ll impose a garden leave on anyone and everyone and enforce it ruthlessly, that’s just business. (I’d love to see what the landscaping team’s contracts say).

They’ll impose a garden leave on anyone and everyone

There is a suggestion that a contract based on UK (or Austrian) law forcing gardening leave would not be enforceable if the resignee moved overseas….say, Italy, for example.

There is a suggestion that a contract based on UK (or Austrian) law forcing gardening leave would not be enforceable if the resignee moved overseas….say, Italy, for example.

Sure, but he might want to visit his friends in the UK without being met at the airport with legal summons.

Andrew Benson reckons it will most likely be Ferrari for Adrian Newey

If the reports in there are correct then it’s Ferrari or retirement. Could go either way. But if Aston’s not tempting him then no team other than Ferrari can.

Williams? The team whose glory days were characterised by managing to lose all their drivers as soon as they became world champions

Frank always wanted to put all his money into the car and knew that if he had the fastest car on the grid he’d have a queue of drivers waiting at the factory doors. So much so, that Senna supposedly offered to drive for free in ’93.

So much so, that Senna supposedly offered to drive for free in ’93.

But didn’t in the end, and they sacked a championship winning driver (Hill) to take on Frentzen who won just the one race. The same year that Newey moved to McLaren.  4D chess?

But didn’t in the end

Indeed, Prost blocked him.

And in ’96 Williams had no competition and Hill only just beat Villeneuve who was in his first season.

If you’re Frank you knew you didnt need Hill, as Villeneuve would be faster in ’97 and was proved right when he won the championship that year. Theres no way Hill would have been champion again in ’97.

Frank was always in favour of throwing someone new into the car (Villenueve/Zanardi/Montoya/Frentzen). Sometimes its worked, sometimes it didnt, but at the time everyone though Frentzen was as fast as Schumacher given their time together in Sportscars (also Wendlinger).

Yup, an extremely crude summary is they binned champion Mansell to get Prost, who vetoed Senna, so they lost Senna as well, then they lost champion Prost, gained Senna, then the events of 30 years ago, then later they binned champion Hill to get Frentzen, lost Newey in jaw-dropping fashion, and managed to keep champion Villeneuve briefly. I forget which commentator at the time remarked that Frank was “determined not to have the number 1 on his cars”. There are so many anecdotes of Frank and Patrick’s decisions during the 90s that I forget a lot of the details 🙂

 at the time everyone though Frentzen was as fast as Schumacher given their time together in Sportscars (also Wendlinger).

Eddie Jordan still thinks he was, and he worked with both. Frentzen never really got on at Williams but his 1999 season at Jordan was absolutely outstanding

I have vague memories of Murray Walker standing in the dark announcing the death of Ayrton or have I made it up? Just him stood there straight to camera

Dusk, at Imola, and I think you’re right.

I’d watched the race on TV and saw him get taken away, by helicopter if I remember right. I was standing in my parents kitchen that evening when radio 4 interrupted whatever was on to say that he had died.

I’m too young to remember JFK and I have no idea where I was when Princess Diana died but I do remember Senna

Theres no way Hill would have been champion again in ’97.

Well, he’d already beaten Villeneuve in 1996, and given that he managed to qualify 3rd in the shitty Arrows in Hungary, and beat Villeneuve off the line and overtook Schumacher a couple of laps later, and would’ve won had the car not failed. I don’t think that you can claim that even if he’d had had equal equipment he still wouldn’t have won. It’s ultimately unknowable.

Apparently Hill’s manager had asked for a salary early on in the ’96 season before it became clear that he was going to win the Championship that both Williams and Head baulked at, so if there’s blame to be laid at feet, Hill has to bear his share I guess.

Mm, that’s a race I certainly don’t forget watching live. It was immediately obvious what the consequences were. Sickening. I started following the sport in the mid 80s when the mortal risk was still quite palpable, but I’d never actually watched a fatal incident live, and in the years before that weekend the sport had been lucky—Berger had even survived a fireball at the same corner. It’s phenomenally unfair to Ratzenberger and others that there was such a reaction to Senna’s crash, but that’s how it was: there was no pretending for anyone any more, no-one was untouchable.

The only other time I’ve felt physically nauseous watching a crash was Grosjean in Bahrain. That looked worryingly like it was about to break a near-30-year run in horrible fashion.

I was at a classic car show on the Sunday, and the news of the crash and rumours that he’d died rippled around the site like a wave of nauseous disbelief. You could see wee groups of folks huddled around portable radios listening to news of it.

Weird day.

I never used to miss an F1 race back then, but I’d been talked into going on an epic road ride with a friend as it was a really nice day.

I’d taped it and watched it when I got back. Still got the VHS tapes of that weekend in the attic.

And with Roland Ratzenberger – I think regretfully most media outlets would have forgotten about him were it not for all the other incidents over that weekend. So in a way Senna’s death also kept his legacy alive.

The  only other time I’ve felt physically nauseous watching a crash was Grosjean in Bahrain. That looked worryingly like it was about to break a near-30-year run in horrible fashion.

The strangest one for me was Greg Moore. I’d heard about it on the radio before I watched the race. It’s a weird feeling watching the race knowing what’s going to happen but knowing nothing else about it

Aiui Murray and co were seeing live pictures that weren’t being broadcast, but somehow he still held it together while the whole thing played out in front of him. I was at Monaco which was the next race and they left the pole spot vacant for Senna (and p2 for Ratzenberger) – that was strangely emotional when you could walk onto the track after the race, but nobody stood on those.

Newey exit confirmed…

The Team announces that Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey will leave the Red Bull Technology Group in the first quarter of 2025.

The engineering supremo will step back from Formula 1
design duties to focus on final development and delivery of Red Bull’s first hypercar, the… pic.twitter.com/jkYL0EiU7B

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 1, 2024

And then Karl Wendlinger had his accident at that Monaco race, really close to another fatality so soon after those two

Barichello also had an incident at Imola that weekend.

I  can remember watching the race live, and not fully believing what had just happened.

Also couldn’t get over Schumacher’s win celebrations.

Bez
The only other time I’ve felt physically nauseous watching a crash was Grosjean in Bahrain. That looked worryingly like it was about to break a near-30-year run in horrible fashion.

Bianchi? Or am I missing something?

Yes, true, thank you. Maria de Villota as well.

andrewhFree Member
And then Karl Wendlinger had his accident at that Monaco race, really close to another fatality so soon after those two

and within 2 weeks of that Sauber had decided enough was enough and had proper head protection added to the car.

Can anyone remember if any other team acted on this before they were forced to?

Back to Newey, all the reports seems to suggest that he’s free to work for another team in 12 months’ time. Surely the draw of Ferrari must now be irresistible: Ferrari, Hamilton, and the timing of getting in just before a major regulation change. Working with not just one but two entities that he’s always said he wanted to, and the opportunity to make the most of a works car under fresh rules? He could scarcely have scripted a more perfect swansong.

At this rate I might even buy a red shirt 🙂

By this time next year the 2026 car will already have a very defined path. So could be a very frustrating time to join with, potentially, only able to have limited impact on someone else’s design philosophy. He’s been there before, so who knows what will appeal to him

At 66, I’d be thinking that Newey will just walk away and focus on projects that he wants to do personally.   Unless someone offers him a monster salary AND the ability to do more than 50% of whatever the **** he wants… Ferrari might tick that box…?

By this time next year the 2026 car will already have a very defined path.

True, but doubtless there will have been conversations that would give him a steer on whether the fundamentals of the design are amenable. I’m just not sure I can see him deciding to end up having to say “I had the opportunity to work at Ferrari with Hamilton and I chose to go sailing”.

At this rate I might even buy a red shirt

Never their biggest fan, but a Ferrari win always has some romance attached to it.

I’ve only really disliked Ferrari—or rather, been baffled by how the romance blinded people, drivers included, to the reality—because for so long they’ve been so consistently good at failing to win despite all the advantages they’ve enjoyed, and the one time they were consistently good at winning was with Schumacher, who I always disliked intensely. In Vasseur and Hamilton I think they have a combination which is both potent and (by F1 standards at least) likeable.

Schumacher, who I always disliked intensely.

I was lucky enough (by complete chance) to spend an evening with him, his brother and several other F1 folks in a small Indian restaurant in Brackley in the days leading up to a GP at Silverstone. Like you, I had found him difficult to like, fair to say my impression of the actual person changed 180degs after that evening.

Yeah, I can believe that. I suspect he’s a decent bloke outside of F1—he just left his morals at the paddock gates.

I was a big fan of Schumacher when he first started, but his ruthlessness put me off. Every account I’ve heard from people who have met him is that he was a really nice guy in person. He came from a humble background and worked his way into F1 on merit. Problem is, Benneton back then was run by Flavio Briatore, Ross Brawn, and Tom Walkinshaw. Brawn I have some respect for, he was a master at exploiting the rules to the limit, but I don’t think he was ever an outright cheat. Briatore and Walkinshaw I have zero respect for, they were both unprincipled ****s who would do anything to win. In a team run by people like that, not surprising that Schumacher took things too far.

I still can’t believe Eddie Jordan was Adrians manager, let alone that he has pulled this off:

He also revealed that his departure had been handled by former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan, who Newey described as his “close friend and manager”.

Jordan and Newey have succeeded in pulling off a major coup in extricating the designer from a contract that ran to the end of 2025 and included a 12-month “non-compete” clause which should have meant he was not available to any other team until 2027 at the earliest.

I mean fair play to him, that is bloody good going!

The only thing I can think of is that Red Bull don’t want Newey to tell the world everything he knows about the Horner/Verstappen/Marko feud so agreed to let him go if he keeps his mouth shut.

Can’t believe it’s been 30 years….

I was working at Halfords when I was a student, we used to have the F1 on the car radio section.

We heard there had been an accident, but didn’t find out until later that he’d died – very sombre mood around the shop, even form those that weren’t that interested, especially as Ratzenberger had died the previous day.

Barrichello had a lucky escape that weekend when he went in to the catch fencing.

Not sure of the timing, but Netflix have released the teaser trailer for their Senna limited series/drama:

“Also couldn’t get over Schumacher’s win celebrations.”

To be fair, your recollection may be at fault – the podium was (rightly) extremely muted.

As we’re on the subject of Schumacher amongst others this day, the excellent Matt Bishop and Richard Williams have recently started an outstanding podcast about the history of motor racing – Schumacher is an early (and interesting) topic –

When I did some work for Benetton F1 while Ralf drove there, the engineers I spoke to didn’t like him much – as a person or a driver

I wonder if Ferrari send Newy a job offer, could Newy reply that he would only accept if the car he was to work on would conform to the following design principles and specifications and then give them all his plans for the new car under the new regs?

This tentative acceptance letter ‘might’ be passed to the incumbent designer who will then follow those design guides very carefully. He might even contact Adrian to clarify the finer details of his ’employment conditions’…