Alain Prost looks back positively on his short collaboration with Adrian Newey. The former Formula 1 driver returned to the pinnacle of motorsport in 1993 to drive for the Williams team and there he encountered the engineer. Prost really appreciated the way Newey communicated and he also thinks the engineer has always been of great value to the whole team.
Newey continues to be adored by the Formula 1 world. The designer has been putting fast cars on the circuits since the nineties. He did the same for Prost in 1993, who then won his fourth and final championship. The former driver therefore looks back with great positivity on the collaboration with Newey. “I’ve only worked with Adrian for a short time,” Prost says on the Beyond the Grid podcast. “He’s really different from the rest of the engineers.”
The four-time world champion only means that in a positive way. “We had a very different setup at Williams in 1993, but I loved talking to Adrian. You can only feel confident when he’s on your team.’ Prost is especially happy that he never had to argue with the designer who is still causing a furore with the Red Bull Racing team. ‘He really listens to you very well and he asks questions all the time. Then he just does what he thinks is right.’
Prost: ‘Newey provides energy and synergy’
The Frenchman thinks that Newey is not only important because of his drawings and ideas, but he can also motivate a team. “You mustn’t forget that Adrian is only one engineer. Of course the drawings are fantastic, but it’s also nice how he works with a team. He provides a lot of energy and synergy.’ Sergio Pérez said earlier in the same podcast that Newey talks as if he were a driver himself and Prost can confirm that. “We’re actually quite similar.”
