Will Ferrari Woo F1’s Adrian?
Posted on May 1, 2024 Tags: Formula One
Miami Yet Another Test for Daniel
FORMULA ONE IS, AS WE KNOW, an environment where money is no object. And that was never more evident this week when Ferrari reportedly offered Adrian Newey 100 million pounds to switch camps.
Brit Adrian is, of course, Red Bull Racing Chief Technical Officer.
And the undoubted engineering genius behind the success of the remarkable F1 machinery that has piloted Max Verstappen to near miraculous heights in recent times.
Long time between drinks!
It’s a fact that the famous Italian marque hasn’t won the F1 drivers’ championship since 2007. But they remain hopeful the new rules – scheduled for 2026 – give them the chance to return to the top of the sport.
And, according to Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, Ferrari are willing to pay Adrian Newey £100 million across four years to work as their “super consultant”.
At current rates, that’s just shy of 200 million Aussie dollars!
Gazzetta dello Sport says Ferrari is prepared to negotiate with Red Bull to ensure Adrian is still able to work on their 2026 F1 car.
Genius behind Red Bull’s dominance
The outrageous offer comes after various reports indicating Adrian Newey, pictured above, would be unable to work for a rival team in 2027.
Make no mistake, Adrian is a legendary F1 designer and has been the standalone brilliant mind behind Red Bull for the past 15 years.
Adrian’s innovative blown diffuser was revolutionary, allowing Sebastian Vettel to run away with four titles in the past.
And in the ground effect era, Max Verstappen has dominated, thanks to Adrian’s genius.
He is worth every cent anyone is prepared to pay for his services.
Informal Communications
For much of this year, the rumour mill surrounding the F1 paddock has been awash with ‘will he or won’t he’ scenarios surrounding about the brilliant Brit’s future.
Evidently the 65-year- old Adrian Martin Newey has “informally communicated” to his RB colleagues his wish to quit his remarkable tenure.
Red Bull has publicly dismissed such speculation, saying: “Adrian is contracted until at least the end of 2025 and we are unaware of him joining any other team.”
Aston Martin a Contender
As we know, the Scuderia has signed Lewis Hamilton alongside Charles Leclerc for 2025, and Adrian could be seen as the missing link.
But don’t dismiss the role behind the scenes of Aston Martin, backed by Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco. Like Red Bull, AB is based in the UK.
Such a marriage would allow Adrian to continue his relationship with Honda, which have also expressed interest in signing Max in the future.
Watch this space! These are exciting times, indeed!
Daniel faces 3-place grid penalty
Are you aware Daniel Ricciardo was handed a three-place grid drop for overtaking under the Safety Car during the F1 Chinese Grand Prix? The RB driver was found to have overtaken Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas during a Safety Car period in Shanghai. Daniel was forced to retire due to damage sustained to his car when he was run into from behind by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, meaning he was unable to serve the usual 10-second time penalty. As a result, the penalty is carried over to the Miami Grand Prix and converted into a three-place grid penalty for the sprint race. The luckless Aussie, yet to score a point this season, also picked up two penalty points on his licence for the incident.
Encouragement from Helmut
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, who has been hard on the Aussie’s hammer lately, said he was encouraged by Daniel’s performance at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.
Given a new chassis in Shanghai, he enjoyed a better weekend. Until, running inside the points in ninth place, Lance Stroll rammed him from behind before a Safety Car restart.
The car was damaged beyond repair in the incident and Daniel subsequently retired from the race.
Feeling “no additional pressure”
Helmut noted how Daniel’s performance was “much better” across his first weekend since changing chassis.
Despite his recent run of bad luck, the eight-time grand prix winner insists he is feeling no additional pressure.
“I haven’t had a great start to the season but I’m also not a rookie that’s trying to establish myself in the sport and prove something.
“And the team believes this and knows I can, so it’s just trying to clean it all up and making sure we can get it.
“There’s no additional pressure from ‘shit, am I going to have a seat next weekend’ or anything. It’s not anything like that.” DANIEL RICCIARDO.
Miami Grand Prix
This is another Sprint Race weekend, so there is only one hour of free practice to try to find the best set-up as well as evaluating tyre behaviour, according to Pirelli’s gurus. Right from the Day 1, it’s time for qualifying to establish the grid for the Sprint Race. After that, the parc ferme regulations are briefly suspended so teams can work on the cars for qualifying and then Sunday’s traditional Grand Prix.
RACE SCHEDULE – PERTH (WA) TIME
Miami International Autodrome
P1 Saturday 4th -May
00:30 Sprint Shootout Saturday 4th May
04:30 Sprint Sunday 5th May
00:00 Qualifying Sunday 5th May
04:00 Race Monday 6th May
Home of the Miami Dolphins
The Miami Grand Prix is the sixth round of the season, the first of three to be held in the US and is the third edition of this race which first appeared on the calendar in 2022.
The temporary street circuit flows around the Hard Rock Stadium, a multipurpose venue which is home to the Miami Dolphins. The F1 team areas are actually located within the facility, creating a truly extraordinary atmosphere for a Grand Prix weekend.
The 5.412 km-long track, which the drivers will tackle 57 times on Sunday, features 19 corners, three straights, three DRS zones and top speeds can exceed 340 km/h.
There are also some elevation changes, the main one being between turns 13 and 16, with the track rising and falling as it goes over an exit ramp and under various overpasses.
There’s an uphill approach to the chicane at turns 14 and 15, with a crest in the middle before the track drops away on the exit.
The three sectors are each different in character, making for a lap that has a bit of everything. The first part boasts a run of eight high speed corners, while the second sector has a long straight and a few low speed turns. The final run to the finish line consists of a straight and three flowing corners.
Significant track evolution and graining
The three dry tyre compounds chosen by Pirelli for this round are in the midrange: C2 as Hard C3 as Medium and C4 as Soft.
The track was resurfaced before last year’s race and is very smooth, and therefore offers quite low grip, a feature compounded by the fact it is not used for any other motorsport events.
This leads to a very significant track evolution and graining could eventuate, put in an appearance particularly with the Medium and Soft tyres.
Miami, Florida, USA
Miami enjoys a tropical climate with air temperature usually exceeding 25°C. This week the forecast is for sunny conditions, but there can be a weather build up leading to showers or thunderstorms.
The wind is a sea breeze with gusts of up to 50 km/h.
In terms of strategy, the Miami Grand Prix is a classic one-stop race, with Hard and Medium compounds the outright favourites.
Last year, Max Verstappen started from ninth on the grid on Hard tyres before switching to Mediums, while the other two drivers who made it to the podium, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso, went the other way – Medium then Hard.
Miami also hosts the second round of the F1 Academy season.
In contrast to the opening round in Jeddah, the weekend in America sees drivers tackle two free practice sessions in addition to the qualifying session and two races.
British driver Abbi Pulling (Rodin Motorsport-Alpine) arrives in Florida heading the standings on 44 points, with a win in Race 2 in Saudi Arabia.
Abbi has a ten point lead over Holland’s Maya Weug (Prema Racing-Ferrari), who heads France’s Doriane Pin (Prema Racing-Mercedes), the winner of Race 1 in Jeddah, by a single point.
EDITED by AC
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