Newey praise often ‘exaggerated’ says Van de Grint

Viaplay analyst Kees Van de Grint believes that technical genius Adrian Newey often gets too much credit for his work.

Newey is known up and down the paddock as a technical mastermind who has created a number of championship winning cars throughout his time in Formula 1.

The current Red Bull Chief Technical Officer has led on a number of innovations working with Championship winning teams such as Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull.

However, these innovations have often been known to be quite aggressive and sometimes haven’t always worked.

McLaren had to run a developed MP4-17 in 2003 as their planned car was marred with reliability problems and failed a number of crash tests.

Newey has also failed to get the better of Mercedes throughout the hybrid era, with the German marquee able to win the championship from 2014 right up until 2021.

Red Bull were able to take the Drivers’ Championship last season however, as the car became more competitive and often out-paced the Mercedes.

The 2022 Red Bull raised eyebrows in the first shakedown at Barcelona with a dramatic sidepod design. But the team caused a stir again in the second test at Bahrain introducing a new sidepod concept on the final day.

However, Van de Grint believes that praise the Briton receives is sometimes exaggerated and believes that the success comes from the team as a whole.

In conversation with former F1 driver Christijan Albers, Van de Grint believes Newey receives far too much praise.

“I think it’s all so exaggerated,” said Van de Grint, as quoted by GPBlog.com. “It is down to the team. I think Newey gets too much credit too often.”

“Ten Hag also gets more credit at Ajax than his assistants,” explained Van de Grint, making a comparison to Dutch football.

However, Albers counters the Dutchman’s argument stating that Newey seems to have a golden touch everywhere he goes.

“Look at the side pod for example,” said Albers. “That’s a really nice idea from Newey. It’s a lot further back compared to the rest of the grid.

“Everywhere Newey goes, the car is aggressive.”

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