Dan Fallows discusses ‘key’ lesson from Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey

Jamie Woodhouse
Adrian Newey on the grid. Singapore, October 2022.

Red Bull's Adrian Newey ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. Singapore, October 2022.

Aston Martin’s Dan Fallows say Adrian Newey is modest from a technical standpoint, and the key lesson is to always be open to ideas.

Newey is regarded as one of Formula 1’s most successful designers, his involvement with title-winning challengers spreading across multiple decades.

Since 2006 he has been with Red Bull, the team having won five Constructors’ and six Drivers’ titles in that time, with Red Bull’s former aero chief Fallows having had the opportunity to work alongside him.

For someone who has worked on the creation of title-worthy challengers at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, it would not be an overwhelming shock if Newey was very certain and set on what he wants on a Formula 1 car to make it better than that of the opponents.

However, Fallows explained that Newey is actually quite the opposite to that, and having learned a lot from Newey during their time together, Fallows said the main thing he learnt was not to be stubborn to alternative ideas.

Fallows departed Red Bull to take over as Aston Martin’s new technical director in April 2022.

“I learnt a huge amount from Adrian,” Fallows began during an in-house interview with Aston Martin.

“We all know how talented he is as a designer, but what people who haven’t worked with him don’t appreciate is just how modest he is from a technical perspective – there’s no technical arrogance with him.

“He doesn’t have a problem with letting go of an idea if evidence comes along that supports a different approach.

“Of course, you believe in your ideas and what you think is right but, if something or someone comes along with evidence that proves a different idea is better, you must never be afraid to change tack and do things differently – that’s the key thing I learned from Adrian.”

Aston Martin will be hoping to make a positive step with their 2023 challenger, the AMR23, after a 2022 campaign which saw the team grow increasingly stronger and secure P7 in the Constructors’ Championship.

The Silverstone-based squad were the first to announce their 2023 launch date, with the covers set to come off the AMR23 on February 13.

And following the 2022 campaign, PlanetF1.com were part of the media group that descended on the new, state-of-the-art Aston Martin factory that is under construction.

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