Adrian Newey: Designing the RB19

Our host Nicola Hume speaks to Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey on The Official Oracle Red Bull Racing Podcast, brought to you by HP Poly – delivering exclusive and unrivalled access to the team. In this month's episode, we’re discussing the RB19. Adrian reveals how the car's performance has exceeded his expectations and why the design for it started years ago. Adrian also talks about his journey into F1, and how Christian Horner persuaded him to join the team in 2006.
Adrian also chooses another item to go in our 'Oracle Red Bull Racing in 100 Objects' hall of fame, he answers a load of your fan questions, plus we quiz him on whether he can guess the RB car by just listening to the engine sound.

* The Talking Bull Podcast, brought to you by HP Poly, features discussions with various individuals associated with Oracle Red Bull Racing.
* This episode focuses on Adrian Newey, the Chief Technical Officer of the team, known for his instrumental role in Red Bull's success and speed over the past 18 years.

**Current Success and Expectations:**

* The RB19, designed by Newey, has been phenomenal, exceeding expectations and astounding experts and fans alike.
* Newey remains pragmatic and cautious, acknowledging that there are still 20 races to go and that other teams will push hard, leading to potential changes in the standings.
* He emphasizes the pressure associated with being the favorite, where problems can lead to criticism and victories are often met with the expectation that they should have happened.

**Challenges and Areas of Improvement:**

* Newey admits to facing reliability concerns and performance issues during the Bahrain test and early races.
* The team struggled to switch tires on quickly, particularly during the Melbourne qualifying session.
* Newey highlights the importance of addressing these issues and continuously pushing for improvement.

**Observations on Other Teams:**

* Newey acknowledges the significant regulation changes introduced in 2021, which resulted in a variety of car designs.
* He specifically mentions Ferrari and Mercedes as teams with different design concepts compared to Red Bull.
* Newey emphasizes the uncertainty surrounding which concept will ultimately have the most potential and the need to adapt and develop strategies accordingly.

**Evolution of the RB19:**

* Newey explains that the RB19 is a detailed evolution of the RB18, with improvements based on critiques and identified areas for development.
* The focus was on addressing issues such as weight, handling, and aerodynamic developments, while adhering to minor regulation changes.
* Newey compares the RB19 to cars driven by Sebastian Vettel, such as the RB7, acknowledging the significant differences due to technological advancements and the impact of computer simulations.

**Life at Milton Keynes (MK7):**

* Newey describes the vastness and university-like campus of MK7, which continues to expand.
* He emphasizes the importance of creating a positive work environment, with a focus on good catering and a flat organizational structure.
* Newey highlights the significance of open communication, minimizing meetings, and encouraging teamwork to generate ideas and drive progress.

**Planning for the 2026 Engine Regulations:**

* Newey confirms that the team is already planning for the 2026 engine regulations, with a focus on the integration of the new power unit.
* However, he notes that detailed aerodynamic regulations are yet to be defined, preventing the team from fully committing to the chassis design.
* Newey emphasizes the importance of the engine as a key factor in determining the basic architecture of the car.

**The Oracle Red Bull Racing 100 Objects:**

* A new segment is introduced, where guests bring in an object that holds significance to their experience within Red Bull.
* Newey chooses his faithful old sketchpad and pencil, which he has used for over 10 years.
* He explains his preference for pen and paper, allowing him to visualize and work quickly on design concepts.
* Newey highlights the importance of having a team to convert his sketches into digital 3D drawings.

**History at Red Bull and Decision to Join:**

* Newey joined Red Bull in 2006, leaving McLaren, an established and successful team.
* He felt the need for a new challenge and was intrigued by the opportunity to be involved in a team from the start.
* Newey mentions Christian Horner's persistence in trying to recruit him and David Coulthard's positive feedback about Red Bull.

**Christian Horner's Quote and Newey's Perception:**

* Newey addresses Christian Horner's famous quote, "He's the only bloke that can see air."
* Newey humbly denies being that good and suggests that Horner's statement may have been exaggerated.

**Inspiration and Development:**

* Newey attributes his ability to visualize and understand complex concepts to his early experiences building scale models and experimenting with different designs.
* He emphasizes the importance of single-mindedness and focus in pursuing a career in motor racing.
* Newey reveals that he was expelled from school at 16 and subsequently studied aeronautical engineering at university.

**Questions from Oracle Red Bull Racing Fans:**

* Anna from the Czech Republic asks which part of the car Newey enjoys designing or tweaking the most.
* Newey expresses his preference for laying out the car, particularly during new regulations, and enjoys the challenge of optimizing the car's architecture.
* He also mentions his tendency to float around and provide input on various aspects of the car's design, bringing in fresh perspectives.


Newey reflects on his journey in motor racing, emphasizing that his ambition was always to work in the field and that every day since has been a bonus. He recalls his early days as a junior aerodynamicist at Fittipaldi's, where he was the only aerodynamicist in the team. Newey acknowledges his self-critical nature, which he believes is essential for continuous improvement.

Regarding his future plans, Newey expresses that he enjoys working on various projects beyond Formula One, such as the Valkyrie project with Aston Martin. He contemplates the possibility of scaling back his involvement in Formula One while pursuing other interests.

When asked about the most common engineering degree in Red Bull Racing, Newey suggests aeronautical engineering as it provides a comprehensive understanding of aerodynamics, structures, and control theories. However, he emphasizes the importance of choosing a degree that aligns with one's interests, such as mathematics for simulation vehicle dynamics.

Newey acknowledges that Formula One cars could become significantly faster if not for regulations. He explains that safety and tire limitations would become major concerns if downforce development was unrestricted. He also mentions that the current generation of Formula One cars might be the fastest for some time due to proposed rule changes for 2026, which could result in slower cars.

In the HP Poly game segment, Newey attempts to identify three Formula One cars based on audio clips of their engines. Despite his expertise, he scores zero out of three, demonstrating the challenging nature of the game.

Overall, the podcast episode provides an engaging and informative discussion with Adrian Newey, covering his career, engineering insights, and thoughts on the future of Formula One.

[00:00.000 -> 00:07.000] The Talking Bull Podcast is back. Expect funny moments, plenty of action, and untold stories throughout the years.
[00:07.000 -> 00:09.000] Brought to you by HP Poly.
[00:13.000 -> 00:17.000] Hello and welcome to the Talking Bull Podcast brought to you by HP Poly.
[00:17.000 -> 00:22.000] This is the second edition of the brand new Talking Bull Podcast.
[00:22.000 -> 00:26.360] I'm Nicola Hulme. We are here in Milton Keynes at Red Bull HQ.
[00:26.400 -> 00:29.480] Now, as part of this new style of podcast,
[00:29.520 -> 00:33.280] we are going all in on the Oracle Red Bull Racing team.
[00:33.320 -> 00:36.920] So we are chatting to everyone, not just the bosses, not just the drivers,
[00:36.960 -> 00:38.920] but also the people that build the cars,
[00:38.960 -> 00:44.400] the people that keep everything moving nice and smoothly on a day-to-day basis.
[00:44.440 -> 00:47.000] Oh, so you can listen to this podcast in all the usual places,
[00:47.000 -> 00:50.000] but also, added bonus, you can watch us as well.
[00:50.000 -> 00:53.000] We are on YouTube on the Oracle Red Bull Racing YouTube channel.
[00:53.000 -> 00:57.000] If you're there now and if there's a certain guest that you fancy seeing,
[00:57.000 -> 01:00.000] then just pop it in the comments section below and let us know.
[01:00.000 -> 01:06.160] Now, our second guest is pretty legendary, I would say,
[01:06.160 -> 01:12.800] and is very instrumental in terms of Red Bull's success and Red Bull's speed
[01:12.800 -> 01:16.160] for the majority of its 18-year history.
[01:16.160 -> 01:21.280] And his latest design, the RB19, has just been phenomenal
[01:21.280 -> 01:25.400] and has astounded not only F1 fans, but also experts as well.
[01:25.400 -> 01:27.960] So ladies and gentlemen, can we have a round of applause
[01:28.240 -> 01:31.280] for the Chief Technical Officer, Adrian Newey.
[01:34.640 -> 01:36.400] Thank you for coming.
[01:36.400 -> 01:37.200] How are you?
[01:37.200 -> 01:38.240] Yeah, very good, thank you.
[01:38.240 -> 01:42.200] I feel like this is a really special time to chat to you, actually,
[01:42.200 -> 01:45.120] because at the start of the season or even at the end of
[01:45.120 -> 01:49.840] last season, the pundits were predicting that it was going to be Red Bull dominance this
[01:49.840 -> 01:56.360] year and then all of a sudden the RB19 comes along and everyone's blown away by it. Has
[01:56.360 -> 02:03.520] it even exceeded your own expectations? Be honest, you don't have to be humble.
[02:03.520 -> 02:08.520] Yes and no. The start of the season, the first three races, yes, for sure.
[02:08.520 -> 02:13.080] But you have to be absolutely pragmatic and on your toes because we've still got 20 races
[02:13.080 -> 02:14.360] to go.
[02:14.360 -> 02:16.420] Others will be pushing hard.
[02:16.420 -> 02:18.640] Things can change so quickly in Formula One.
[02:18.640 -> 02:23.160] So we've just got to keep pushing and see where we get to at the end of the year.
[02:23.160 -> 02:27.880] See, now I understand this is you answering as a professional with your red bull head
[02:27.880 -> 02:32.840] on but as the human Adrian deep down inside, is there a part of you that's a little bit
[02:32.840 -> 02:34.880] smug about how you're feeling right now?
[02:34.880 -> 02:40.240] No, absolutely not. As soon as you're smug, then the next moment you know you've been
[02:40.240 -> 02:41.240] overtaken.
[02:41.240 -> 02:42.240] Yeah, that's fair enough.
[02:42.240 -> 02:49.280] You really can't afford to be smug. When you're leading and expect
[02:49.280 -> 02:54.120] to be favourite, or you are favourite rather, then it actually brings its own pressures
[02:54.120 -> 03:00.000] because then you're kind of, you know, if you have problems, everybody kind of criticises
[03:00.000 -> 03:04.360] you. If you're lucky enough to carry on and win, then everybody says, well, we knew that
[03:04.360 -> 03:05.700] was going to happen.
[03:05.700 -> 03:06.540] Well, here's the thing.
[03:06.540 -> 03:09.340] I mean, it's been a flying start for Red Bull.
[03:09.340 -> 03:13.140] It's been an incredible start, but nothing is perfect.
[03:13.140 -> 03:16.340] So have you hit anything along the way so far
[03:16.340 -> 03:17.340] that you've already kind of gone,
[03:17.340 -> 03:19.540] oh, not so sure about that?
[03:19.540 -> 03:20.540] Is there anything that you've managed
[03:20.540 -> 03:22.260] to overcome already this season?
[03:22.260 -> 03:23.100] Lots, yeah.
[03:23.100 -> 03:27.240] I mean, it's the old duck paddling frantically
[03:27.240 -> 03:29.040] and it might look smooth on the top of it,
[03:29.040 -> 03:30.720] it's not been so smooth.
[03:30.720 -> 03:34.040] Underneath, we had a few reliability concerns
[03:34.040 -> 03:35.540] coming out of the Bahrain test,
[03:35.540 -> 03:38.520] so there's always things that are kind of,
[03:38.520 -> 03:40.520] you're always worrying about things.
[03:40.520 -> 03:43.720] Reliability, performance as well.
[03:43.720 -> 03:46.980] Melbourne, we struggled to switch the tyres on,
[03:46.980 -> 03:48.560] particularly on Friday.
[03:48.560 -> 03:50.780] Got a little bit more on top of it by qualifying,
[03:50.780 -> 03:53.220] but certainly wasn't an easy ride.
[03:53.220 -> 03:56.840] Yeah, I mean, it's been a fascinating start,
[03:56.840 -> 03:59.280] but then when you are looking at the other teams,
[03:59.280 -> 04:01.940] do you think there are other teams in particular
[04:01.940 -> 04:03.160] that have been struggling,
[04:03.160 -> 04:08.160] especially when it came to the regulation changes that came in in 2021? Are there certain teams that you're kind of
[04:08.160 -> 04:13.840] eyeing up and maybe that you're a bit more wary of as the season's carrying on, do you think?
[04:13.840 -> 04:18.640] Well, as you say, I mean, in 2021, there was a huge regulation change, the biggest regulation
[04:18.640 -> 04:25.520] change since the flat-bottomed cars of 1983. So from a chassis point of view as opposed to engine it was absolutely massive.
[04:28.400 -> 04:31.840] Initially I must admit I was a bit depressed by the regulations when I first saw them
[04:32.480 -> 04:38.080] but they were then relaxed a bit by as a result of pressure from the teams and the more you got
[04:38.080 -> 04:42.720] into them the more we could see that actually there's more freedom than we thought. And that's
[04:43.520 -> 04:45.800] you know that resulted at the start
[04:45.800 -> 04:48.700] of last year in lots of cars looking quite different
[04:48.700 -> 04:50.920] to each other, which I think is always a good thing,
[04:50.920 -> 04:53.860] always nice that viewers can tell the cars
[04:53.860 -> 04:56.640] not just by the livery, but also by the shapes.
[04:58.360 -> 05:02.560] And in particular, I would say that we took our concept,
[05:02.560 -> 05:08.000] Ferrari had a slightly different different but broadly similar concept.
[05:08.000 -> 05:13.000] Mercedes had a very different concept with their so-called Zero Side Pod.
[05:13.000 -> 05:19.000] And that's always a kind of, when you start off on a road, in the development of a car,
[05:19.000 -> 05:24.000] you have to make a decision at some point about what route you're going to take.
[05:24.000 -> 05:25.480] And we obviously chose ours.
[05:25.800 -> 05:27.320] The others chose theirs.
[05:29.120 -> 05:34.000] You get then to the first season, you know, the first races, the season goes on.
[05:34.000 -> 05:37.880] You develop your, your strategy, if you like.
[05:38.640 -> 05:41.600] Um, Mercedes developed theirs, Ferrari developed theirs.
[05:42.400 -> 05:46.800] And you're never sure which is going to have the most ultimate potential.
[05:46.920 -> 05:51.400] The early starter might not, if you like, have the longest branch or road or
[05:51.400 -> 05:52.840] whatever adjective you want to use.
[05:52.920 -> 05:58.000] This is where I was wondering if the RB19 has surpassed your own expectations,
[05:58.240 -> 06:03.400] because you created that blueprint for the RB18 and then subsequent RB19.
[06:03.640 -> 06:07.240] So at the time that you were creating the RB18,
[06:07.240 -> 06:09.360] did you have a vision of,
[06:09.360 -> 06:12.040] oh, this is what it's going to be like by 2023?
[06:13.040 -> 06:15.640] You have a vision of what you're trying to come up with,
[06:15.640 -> 06:19.360] which is led by wind tunnel, CFD,
[06:19.360 -> 06:21.000] mechanical design considerations,
[06:21.000 -> 06:23.520] trying to get the package to work as a whole,
[06:23.520 -> 06:25.560] vehicle dynamics, obviously. So you package to work as a whole, vehicle dynamics obviously.
[06:25.560 -> 06:30.720] So you try to blend all those three disciplines together to produce what you hope will be
[06:30.720 -> 06:33.680] the fastest package.
[06:33.680 -> 06:39.440] Once you're on that route, then you have to, unless it's obviously got inherent problems,
[06:39.440 -> 06:42.160] you tend to keep going.
[06:42.160 -> 06:47.440] And so far the basic concept seems to have been decent and so what RB19, this
[06:47.440 -> 06:52.880] year's car compared to last year's, really is a detailed evolution. We critiqued the
[06:52.880 -> 06:57.520] things we weren't happy with, the car was still slightly overweight, there were a few
[06:57.520 -> 07:03.240] handling things that we weren't quite happy with, the usual kind of aerodynamic developments,
[07:03.240 -> 07:05.040] minor regulation changes, the floor edge height,
[07:05.040 -> 07:11.760] so all those things you kind of throw into the mix. And so as you can see, this year's car is
[07:12.560 -> 07:18.240] clearly a strong family resemblance to last year's, but improved in many detailed ways.
[07:18.240 -> 07:21.200] So if you've compared it to last year's, how would you compare it to
[07:21.840 -> 07:25.360] a car that Seb Vettel was driving, like the RB7, for example?
[07:25.360 -> 07:30.080] How could you compare the two of those? Inevitably, they're very different, I think.
[07:30.080 -> 07:33.520] If you go back through the years, because I'm kind of old enough to have been in this for a
[07:33.520 -> 07:49.280] very long time now, and through the 80s, then teams were 50 to maybe 150 people, much smaller. But the big change really has been
[07:49.280 -> 07:56.480] the computer age. Go back to the 80s, there was no computing power to speak of. So the
[07:56.480 -> 08:06.240] cars were drawn on a drawing board and the understanding was what you could try to glean, particularly on the
[08:06.240 -> 08:11.840] aerodynamics side, from kind of observing the flow with wall tufts and flowvis and that sort of stuff
[08:11.840 -> 08:17.840] and then trying to use your nose to understand what was going on with the flow physics. Now with
[08:17.840 -> 08:26.200] CFD coming on kind of in the mid-90s, then we now have a huge understanding of what the flow physics and the flow fields
[08:26.200 -> 08:32.800] are. Everything's, we can go into much more detail, which even if we'd had 800 people
[08:32.800 -> 08:37.560] in the 80s, we wouldn't have known what to do with them, to be perfectly honest. With
[08:37.560 -> 08:43.640] the computer age has been a huge change for Formula One that we can now go into much,
[08:43.640 -> 08:45.600] with all the simulation programs that we have,
[08:46.240 -> 08:51.920] be it vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics, mechanical design, the CAD packages and so forth. We can
[08:51.920 -> 09:00.960] really go into a lot of detail and that really has been the kind of game changer for the development
[09:00.960 -> 09:11.600] of the cars. When I first stepped here at Milton Keynes at MK7, I was blown away by the vastness of the place. It's like a, for those that don't get to see it
[09:11.600 -> 09:16.400] with their own eyes, it's like a university campus is probably the best way to describe it.
[09:16.400 -> 09:21.680] And it is getting bigger. So what's life like for you here at Milton Keynes?
[09:22.560 -> 09:27.280] I think it's, my dad was a vet and I remember asking him because he was,
[09:27.280 -> 09:30.480] saw veterinary practice until he retired at around 65.
[09:31.280 -> 09:36.240] So from when he graduated and started practice in, I'm guessing, kind of
[09:37.200 -> 09:42.480] 1940 or something, through to when he retired, then obviously there's a huge change in medicine.
[09:43.120 -> 09:46.080] And I remember asking him when I was, I don't know, a teenager, how do you keep up with the change in medicine. And I remember asking him when I was a teenager,
[09:46.080 -> 09:49.040] how do you keep up with the change in technology?
[09:49.040 -> 09:51.400] And he said, well, when you're in it day by day,
[09:51.400 -> 09:54.040] you don't really notice, you just adapt and change.
[09:54.040 -> 09:56.380] And it's only when you look back
[09:56.380 -> 09:58.360] that you realize how much it has changed.
[09:58.360 -> 10:00.560] And I think for us, and for me personally,
[10:00.560 -> 10:01.820] it's exactly the same.
[10:03.400 -> 10:07.960] You kind of naturally through almost osmosis, you absorb
[10:07.960 -> 10:10.880] and try to learn and use new technologies.
[10:10.880 -> 10:15.800] So when it comes to your team on like a day to day basis, what's it like here at MK7 for
[10:15.800 -> 10:16.800] them?
[10:16.800 -> 10:20.000] Well, hopefully they enjoy it. I mean, that's the most important thing.
[10:20.000 -> 10:22.600] Well, it's good catering. We found that out so far. It's very nice.
[10:22.600 -> 10:28.120] Good, good. I mean, we try to look after staff. We try to run a very flat structure. So like
[10:28.120 -> 10:34.920] any organisation, you have to have an organogram, a sort of pyramid of layers, if you like.
[10:34.920 -> 10:41.480] But certainly within the engineering department, try to encourage a very flat structure where
[10:41.480 -> 10:46.080] we're quite careful with the seating plans to make sure that people who need to
[10:46.080 -> 10:51.600] communicate with each other are sitting as close as possible. Try to minimise the number
[10:51.600 -> 10:58.500] of meetings. The meeting culture can just be such a big time-wasting culture. Equally
[10:58.500 -> 11:05.360] try to encourage people to talk, not just to email each other. So the coffee shop is another way of doing that.
[11:06.560 -> 11:09.160] Just try to make sure that everybody
[11:10.120 -> 11:13.120] talks to each other, keeps each other informed as much as possible.
[11:13.120 -> 11:17.640] And a lot of the ideas, because really the engineering in terms of
[11:18.360 -> 11:21.840] the progress of the cars is ideas generated.
[11:21.840 -> 11:27.840] So it's about trying to have a culture that people feel comfortable coming up with ideas
[11:27.840 -> 11:32.560] and everybody embracing them, having a look at them,
[11:32.560 -> 11:33.400] chasing them through.
[11:33.400 -> 11:36.040] And if at some point it's obvious
[11:36.040 -> 11:38.760] that they're not going to bear fruit,
[11:38.760 -> 11:41.120] make the car quicker, then you have to drop them.
[11:41.120 -> 11:43.680] If they are, then fantastic, and you keep developing.
[11:43.680 -> 11:47.120] And that's really the way we try to operate.
[11:47.120 -> 11:48.440] Well, that's what I really want to chat to you
[11:48.440 -> 11:49.680] about the progress of the cars,
[11:49.680 -> 11:53.280] because, I mean, we are in the RB19 era,
[11:53.280 -> 11:57.440] so how far ahead are you designing right now?
[11:57.440 -> 12:00.300] So there's big changes coming in 2026,
[12:00.300 -> 12:02.120] when everything's changing over to Ford.
[12:02.120 -> 12:04.840] So are you already planning ahead for that?
[12:04.840 -> 12:06.040] Are you already designing that? Are you already pen to paper? So are you already planning ahead for that? Are you already designing that?
[12:06.040 -> 12:07.960] Are you already pen to paper?
[12:07.960 -> 12:10.240] Are you already on the go for that?
[12:10.240 -> 12:11.760] On the chassis side, not so much.
[12:11.760 -> 12:13.880] On the engine side, yes, absolutely.
[12:13.880 -> 12:17.400] So Ben Hodgkinson and the RB powertrains team,
[12:17.400 -> 12:20.040] that's their sole focus is the 26 engine.
[12:21.440 -> 12:23.200] On the chassis side for the 26 engine,
[12:23.200 -> 12:27.160] we're looking at how that packages.
[12:27.160 -> 12:32.520] So Rob Marshall is kind of the guy that's really looking after that and he's doing a
[12:32.520 -> 12:38.160] great job at looking forward at how we integrate all that.
[12:38.160 -> 12:41.840] But other than that, we don't have a proper set of aerodynamic regulations or anything
[12:41.840 -> 12:42.920] else yet to go on.
[12:42.920 -> 12:49.440] So there's no point in us spending too much time on that until we have a much more defined set of regulations.
[12:49.440 -> 12:52.320] Well, I guess everything does then have to work around the engine, doesn't it? Because
[12:52.320 -> 12:56.880] I mean, over the years you've designed cars that have worked around Renault, Mercedes,
[12:56.880 -> 13:01.200] Honda, etc. Now you're going to be working with Ford. So does that completely change
[13:01.200 -> 13:06.360] how you would then design the chassis around it? Is it all dependent on the engine?
[13:06.360 -> 13:08.000] It is and it isn't.
[13:08.000 -> 13:12.440] So I mean, the 26, well, to answer your question, yes, absolutely.
[13:12.440 -> 13:18.200] When you're designing the chassis, you have to, the basic architecture of the car, the
[13:18.200 -> 13:19.600] engine's a key part.
[13:19.600 -> 13:25.600] Because any Formula One car for many years now, you've got the basic structure of driver, fuel tank,
[13:25.600 -> 13:30.680] battery nowadays, of course, underneath the fuel tank, engine, gearbox, with the turbo
[13:30.680 -> 13:36.680] and everything, and then the radiator's on the side. So that basic structure kind of
[13:36.680 -> 13:41.480] sorts out your underlying architecture, if you like, which is why the wheelbases are
[13:41.480 -> 13:44.800] now so long, because by the time you package that lot, got the weight distribution you
[13:44.800 -> 13:47.200] want, you end up with these gigantic cars.
[13:47.200 -> 13:48.200] And they are huge.
[13:48.200 -> 13:49.200] They are.
[13:49.200 -> 13:50.200] They are long.
[13:50.200 -> 13:53.400] So the engine, yes, of course, it's key.
[13:53.400 -> 13:59.920] The detail of the integration is kind of then the real trick now, because by regulation
[13:59.920 -> 14:03.080] they're all 90 degree V6, 1.6 litres.
[14:03.080 -> 14:06.960] That's turbocharged with a hybrid system. So that's all kind of
[14:06.960 -> 14:12.600] in there and baked in. It's not like the old days where somebody might have a V8, somebody
[14:12.600 -> 14:19.320] have a V10, another person have a V12. That's long gone. But within that kind of V6 thing,
[14:19.320 -> 14:23.040] there's still a lot of detail of how to integrate the engine.
[14:23.040 -> 14:45.000] Talking Ball is brought to you by HP Poly. Poly provide best in class communications a lot of detail of how to integrate the engine. To find out more about what Poly can offer your business, visit their website at poly.com.
[14:45.000 -> 14:50.000] Ensure you have your best meeting, anywhere, anytime, every time.
[14:50.000 -> 14:52.000] Now, back to the podcast.
[14:52.000 -> 15:00.000] So we've got a new game now with our new Talking Bull podcast, and it is the Oracle Red Bull Racing 100 Objects.
[15:00.000 -> 15:06.920] So, how this is going to work is we're going to create a Red Bull Formula One Hall of Fame,
[15:06.920 -> 15:07.920] if you will.
[15:07.920 -> 15:12.520] So every guest that's going to come on this show will bring in an object that means something
[15:12.520 -> 15:17.640] to them, something that's been instrumental to their experience within Red Bull.
[15:17.640 -> 15:22.240] I mean, it could be anything from a pen to a part of the engine, whichever you choose,
[15:22.240 -> 15:23.400] it's totally up to you.
[15:23.400 -> 15:26.440] So what would you like to place in our 100 objects?
[15:26.440 -> 15:28.240] I know we're thinking big going 100.
[15:28.240 -> 15:30.120] This is literally object number two.
[15:30.120 -> 15:32.920] But we'll see how we get on.
[15:32.920 -> 15:34.960] So you obviously warned me about this, Nicola, thank you.
[15:34.960 -> 15:41.040] So I've chosen my faithful old sketchpad stroke notebook and my pencil.
[15:41.040 -> 15:42.200] How fabulous, just there, yeah.
[15:42.200 -> 15:43.240] Thank you.
[15:43.240 -> 15:46.880] As you can see, it's been through the years. I think I've had this
[15:46.880 -> 15:54.120] for more than 10 years now. I'll be honest, most of it, well, that's actually, so that's
[15:54.120 -> 15:59.120] the Australian notes. That's not handwritten. But you go a bit further in and you'll have
[15:59.120 -> 16:05.000] all the junk. Because you're quite old school, aren't you? Well, I am.
[16:05.000 -> 16:08.840] In a good way, there's no complaints there, but you're old school, give me a pen and paper,
[16:08.840 -> 16:11.320] let me doodle it, you know, that guy.
[16:11.320 -> 16:12.320] I am.
[16:12.320 -> 16:15.880] Pen and paper is my kind of default, if you like.
[16:15.880 -> 16:17.640] So I scribble a lot.
[16:17.640 -> 16:22.480] I still work on a drawing board, and that for me, as opposed to a CAD system, and that
[16:22.480 -> 16:25.080] for me is kind of first language.
[16:25.080 -> 16:28.400] So I graduated in 1980.
[16:28.400 -> 16:31.720] As mentioned earlier, CAD systems didn't really
[16:31.720 -> 16:36.600] kind of come to maturity until mid to late,
[16:36.600 -> 16:38.680] mid-90s, let's say.
[16:38.760 -> 16:42.280] So I was being 15 years on the board by then.
[16:42.280 -> 16:48.000] And I kind of looked at other guys and they seem to,
[16:48.000 -> 16:53.560] certainly the early CAD systems, it's changed over the last few years, but they spend a
[16:53.560 -> 16:59.880] lot of time and a lot of energy getting the lines onto the CAD.
[16:59.880 -> 17:03.440] And once they've done that, because they'd used so much energy doing that, they seem
[17:03.440 -> 17:08.560] to be reluctant to use the electronic rubber.
[17:08.560 -> 17:14.840] So I think certainly I can, for general layouts and concepts, I can work quite quickly with
[17:14.840 -> 17:16.920] a pencil and rubber.
[17:16.920 -> 17:29.280] I think through training effectively from a very young age, then I seem to be reasonably good at mentally visualizing things.
[17:29.280 -> 17:32.720] So the fact I can't draw in 3D doesn't bother me
[17:32.720 -> 17:34.640] because I can easily break 3D into 2D.
[17:34.640 -> 17:36.080] Yeah.
[17:36.080 -> 17:40.880] And as I say, I think more than anything, it's my first language.
[17:40.880 -> 17:43.760] If I tried to now convert to a CAD system,
[17:43.760 -> 17:46.000] then it would be like talking
[17:46.000 -> 17:52.420] foreign language. I'd never be as natural. So that's kind of part of my job is then drawing
[17:52.420 -> 18:00.180] on the drawing board. Then I have a team of two or three people who take my drawings,
[18:00.180 -> 18:05.920] scan them because now everything has to be in digital form at some point. And then they
[18:05.920 -> 18:10.960] turn those into 3D drawings and so forth. But before you get to the drawing board, you've
[18:10.960 -> 18:15.200] got to have the ideas in the first place. And that's where the sketchpad comes in.
[18:15.200 -> 18:18.560] I said to the team, well, we knew that we were going to come up with the 100 objects.
[18:18.560 -> 18:21.840] I remember saying to the team, I was like, I'm going to be disappointed if it's not a
[18:21.840 -> 18:29.120] paper and pen that you bring in. I just had a feeling that that's exactly what it was going to be. So I'm so pleased. Object number two, going
[18:29.120 -> 18:31.680] into our Hall of Fame is your notebook and pen. Fantastic.
[18:31.680 -> 18:32.680] Very good. Thank you.
[18:32.680 -> 18:40.920] I need to dig into your history at Red Bull. So you joined in 2006, where at the time Red
[18:40.920 -> 18:45.120] Bull were babies, you know, taking baby steps within Formula One.
[18:45.120 -> 18:46.720] At the time, you were at McLaren,
[18:46.720 -> 18:49.400] a very established team, a very historic team.
[18:49.400 -> 18:52.880] You could say you were at the top of your game,
[18:52.880 -> 18:57.640] and then you left McLaren to join Red Bull,
[18:57.640 -> 18:59.320] who were just this brand new team.
[18:59.320 -> 19:01.680] How on earth did that happen?
[19:01.680 -> 19:06.000] Felt I needed a new challenge is the very short answer.
[19:06.000 -> 19:08.000] I was wondering if it was money.
[19:08.000 -> 19:11.000] I mean, the very short answer is felt I needed a new challenge.
[19:11.000 -> 19:16.000] And it's also a little bit of unfinished business because when I first got into Formula One
[19:16.000 -> 19:18.000] it was the tiny team called Leighton House.
[19:18.000 -> 19:20.000] We were literally 50 people.
[19:20.000 -> 19:25.160] But we had some decent results in 1988 and 90.
[19:25.160 -> 19:27.840] We had a dry year in 1989.
[19:27.840 -> 19:31.160] The team, I think, had lots of promise,
[19:31.160 -> 19:34.320] but basically the owner got thrown in prison,
[19:34.320 -> 19:38.040] which is not a very good move, and the team fell apart.
[19:38.040 -> 19:42.280] I then moved to Williams and onto McLaren, as you mentioned.
[19:42.280 -> 19:44.840] Moving to Williams and McLaren,
[19:44.840 -> 19:45.480] lucky enough to win races and championships with them, and on to McLaren, as you mentioned. And so moving to Williams and McLaren,
[19:48.640 -> 19:49.000] lucky enough to win races and championships with them, but they had won
[19:51.720 -> 19:55.920] races and championships long before I joined. I think my contribution when I joined was to bring
[19:56.640 -> 19:59.880] hopefully some design ideas and talent,
[20:01.720 -> 20:03.520] but the infrastructure was all there.
[20:03.520 -> 20:03.960] Yeah.
[20:03.960 -> 20:11.280] So the idea to then be involved in a team more or less from the start was quite appealing.
[20:11.280 -> 20:11.780] Yeah.
[20:12.480 -> 20:18.800] When Christian made a habit of kind of always be walking the other way down the paddock when I was
[20:18.800 -> 20:20.400] walking in in the morning or whatever and saying hi.
[20:20.400 -> 20:21.680] He knew what he was doing.
[20:21.680 -> 20:22.180] Yeah.
[20:23.040 -> 20:24.560] A bit of casual eye contact.
[20:24.560 -> 20:31.120] Exactly. Yeah. Well, I think he was trying to... A bit of casual eye contact. Exactly. Yeah. And David Coulthard, who was with me at Williams
[20:31.120 -> 20:36.360] and then McLaren, obviously then moved to Red Bull. And he is, so I asked him about
[20:36.360 -> 20:42.680] Red Bull and he said, look, they're a great bunch. So he started to do a bit of looking
[20:42.680 -> 20:45.720] and it certainly looked like Dietrich Mateschitz
[20:45.720 -> 20:50.680] and everything that was going on in Austria looked stable because frankly my concern was
[20:50.680 -> 20:56.040] entrepreneur owners having worked for Latham House, entrepreneur owner, who obviously...
[20:56.040 -> 20:58.440] Yeah, that wasn't the best start for you.
[20:58.440 -> 21:02.960] It wasn't the best start and entrepreneur owners, typically in Formula One, haven't
[21:02.960 -> 21:05.160] had a great lease of life.
[21:05.160 -> 21:08.400] They've come in usually with a big bang, lots of noise.
[21:08.400 -> 21:12.760] Quite often then either lost interest or run out of money.
[21:12.760 -> 21:19.480] So the important thing for me was what was Red Bull's kind of, were they going to be
[21:19.480 -> 21:26.600] one of those fizz, bang and disappear or were they in for the long haul and certainly everything I could
[21:26.600 -> 21:27.600] see.
[21:27.600 -> 21:30.920] Then Red Bull was a proper growing company.
[21:30.920 -> 21:34.920] Deerstreet was clearly passionate about it.
[21:34.920 -> 21:40.840] The opportunity then to, as I say, work with this brand new start-up team who, in fairness,
[21:40.840 -> 21:43.440] through 2005 were a bit the joke of the pit lane.
[21:43.440 -> 21:45.680] They are known as the party team,
[21:45.680 -> 21:50.560] there's the red bulletin, nobody, the big energy station, nobody took it seriously.
[21:51.920 -> 22:00.880] But, you know, underneath there was clearly a desire to get on and do something and so took a
[22:00.880 -> 22:09.280] risk. So I don't know if you know this, but when you Google your name, the first option that
[22:09.280 -> 22:16.040] comes up is, why is Adrian Newey so good? So can you answer that question?
[22:16.040 -> 22:17.680] I haven't Googled my name.
[22:17.680 -> 22:19.080] Why are you so good?
[22:19.080 -> 22:24.720] And I can't answer that question either, no. I suppose maybe in part because I don't think
[22:24.720 -> 22:25.840] I am't know. I suppose maybe in part because I don't think I am that good.
[22:25.840 -> 22:30.160] Okay, that's fair enough. I mean, because there's the famous quote from Christian Horner
[22:30.160 -> 22:35.920] himself who is clearly a big, big fan of yours. And he said that you are the only bloke that
[22:35.920 -> 22:42.040] can see air. So can you either confirm or deny if this is true or not?
[22:42.040 -> 22:47.000] Can you see air? Do you look at a cow and think of the aerodynamics on
[22:47.000 -> 22:52.720] it? Yeah, somebody did that to do that the other day, didn't they, CFD to cow? But no,
[22:52.720 -> 22:59.040] I mean, I think through, hey, when I was, my dad was a vet, as I mentioned earlier,
[22:59.040 -> 23:04.120] but he was also a huge car enthusiast. So he had a succession of Mini Cooper races and
[23:04.120 -> 23:05.160] then Lotus Elans.
[23:05.160 -> 23:10.280] The Lotus Elans came as kits that he then finished off to, I think it was a way of avoiding
[23:10.280 -> 23:11.280] car tax.
[23:11.280 -> 23:16.000] So certainly the second Elan I was able to help him put that together.
[23:16.000 -> 23:22.680] He had a little workshop in the garden with basic metalworking equipment and so forth.
[23:22.680 -> 23:27.700] So I used to make scale models and then by the time I was about 10 or 11,
[23:27.700 -> 23:29.360] I was bored of making other people's models.
[23:29.360 -> 23:30.560] So I cannibalized those,
[23:30.560 -> 23:34.600] started sketching my own designs and then making them by
[23:34.600 -> 23:37.920] folding up bits of aluminum and making bits of fiberglass and so forth.
[23:37.920 -> 23:41.440] Now, of course, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
[23:41.440 -> 23:49.520] But I think what it did do is help to develop my ability to
[23:49.520 -> 23:52.520] look at something, visualize it, try to understand it.
[23:52.520 -> 23:56.680] So I didn't know what I was trying to understand, but I was trying to understand it.
[23:56.680 -> 24:02.320] And there's that old thousand hour rule thing that if you, to be expert at something, you
[24:02.320 -> 24:06.400] need to do a thousand hours and the younger you do those thousand hours, the better.
[24:06.400 -> 24:09.440] And completely unwittingly, I was doing that.
[24:09.440 -> 24:13.040] And I think that that has helped me, certainly in my career.
[24:13.080 -> 24:19.040] Plus, in truth, a single mindedness to want to be a design engineer
[24:19.040 -> 24:20.040] in motor racing.
[24:20.040 -> 24:22.120] That's from the age of 10 or 11.
[24:22.120 -> 24:25.320] That's what I wanted to do and been lucky enough to end up doing it.
[24:25.320 -> 24:26.840] Well, that's what I mean. Was there
[24:26.840 -> 24:29.120] a backup plan for you if that didn't work out?
[24:29.120 -> 24:31.320] Become a vet maybe, follow your dad's footsteps?
[24:31.320 -> 24:35.640] Well, funny, so my career's advice at O-levels,
[24:35.640 -> 24:37.720] what's now called GCSE,
[24:37.720 -> 24:40.360] was that I should do art,
[24:40.360 -> 24:41.920] history, and English because I was actually
[24:41.920 -> 24:43.920] better at the arts than I was at the sciences.
[24:43.920 -> 24:46.160] Okay. But that came to an abrupt end anyway, art history and English because I was actually better at the arts than I was at the sciences.
[24:46.160 -> 24:50.800] But that came to an abrupt end anyway because I got chucked out of school at 16. So I then
[24:50.800 -> 24:56.600] went to the local technical college and studied, did a thing called an ordinary international
[24:56.600 -> 25:04.040] diploma in technology. And that was kind of perfect because it gave a broad set of skills
[25:04.040 -> 25:06.320] and was enough to get me into uni.
[25:06.320 -> 25:11.280] Studied aeronautical engineering at uni, not out of any interest in aircraft,
[25:11.280 -> 25:16.000] because I figured that racing cars are closer to aircraft than the other kind of technology.
[25:18.240 -> 25:25.240] Then was there a backup plan? Not really. When I came to the university milk round and trying
[25:25.240 -> 25:30.080] to get a job, then I just wrote round to all the teams I could find addresses for. Most
[25:30.080 -> 25:37.120] of course didn't apply. Finally, or if they did apply, they gave the catch 22 answer of
[25:37.120 -> 25:38.120] only take people's experience.
[25:38.120 -> 25:39.120] Yeah, that's always the way.
[25:39.120 -> 25:47.640] Yeah. So, but anyway, finally Harvey Postlethwaite, who was working at a little team, Fittipaldi, rang me up and said, could I come for an interview?
[25:47.640 -> 25:53.200] I had my motorbike at the time, which was, unfortunately my grandmother passed when I
[25:53.200 -> 25:58.960] was 19, left me a bit of will money, which I very responsibly used to buy a Ducati.
[25:58.960 -> 26:06.360] So I, much to my friend's disgust, I rode up from Southampton to Reading, where Pittipaldi was,
[26:06.360 -> 26:11.040] sat in the porter cabin with my leathers on, and Harvey came out and said, oh, what motorbike
[26:11.040 -> 26:12.040] have you got?
[26:12.040 -> 26:13.040] Ducati 900 SS.
[26:13.040 -> 26:18.440] He had the Moto Guzzi Le Mans, which in the 70s, they were the two kind of big Italian
[26:18.440 -> 26:19.440] rivals.
[26:19.440 -> 26:20.680] Can I have a go on a Ducati?
[26:20.680 -> 26:24.960] So off he went, came back with a big Cheshire cat grill on his face and said, when can you
[26:24.960 -> 26:25.960] start? So that's my-
[26:25.960 -> 26:27.480] Because he didn't even have an interview.
[26:27.480 -> 26:28.480] That's my run and I-
[26:28.480 -> 26:29.480] He just went out on your bike.
[26:29.480 -> 26:30.480] Interview of my life.
[26:30.480 -> 26:36.480] That's amazing. Easiest interview ever. Thank you to your grandma for signing that up for
[26:36.480 -> 26:37.480] you.
[26:37.480 -> 26:38.480] Yes, it's actually my grandmother.
[26:38.480 -> 26:42.640] So we have been, we've been getting everyone to get in touch to kind of send in their questions
[26:42.640 -> 26:47.920] because we've got lots and lots of questions from lots of people from around the world that want to ask you things. So these are
[26:47.920 -> 26:52.400] from Oracle Red Bull Racing fans from around the world. So we're going to start with Anna from the
[26:52.400 -> 26:58.480] Czech Republic, who says, what part of the car is the most fun for you to design or tweak?
[27:00.320 -> 27:06.240] I think the thing I enjoy most is actually laying out the car,
[27:06.240 -> 27:09.240] particularly if it's a new set of regulations like we had last year.
[27:09.240 -> 27:13.240] Then kind of sitting back, trying to understand the regulations,
[27:13.240 -> 27:17.760] what's going to be involved, what route do we take,
[27:17.760 -> 27:21.240] and then trying to come up with an architecture,
[27:21.240 -> 27:26.000] as you mentioned earlier, the kind of, where you put the major masses, gyda sefydliad, fel y dywedodd eich bod yn ymwneud â'r fath o... y ffordd y byddwch chi'n rhoi'r maesau mwyaf,
[27:26.680 -> 27:28.760] beth y byddwch chi'n ceisio ei gynnal ar y ffordd aerodynamig,
[27:28.760 -> 27:30.000] dynamigau'r fyned,
[27:31.120 -> 27:33.480] beth yw hynny'n ymdrech ar gyfer y cynyddu'r suspension.
[27:33.480 -> 27:35.160] Felly, er enghraifft, i'r car hon,
[27:36.760 -> 27:37.680] roedden ni'n mynd i'r dynion ymlaen,
[27:37.680 -> 27:40.280] sy'n deimlo'n cymdeithasol i'r cynnyddu'r car
[27:40.280 -> 27:46.520] a'r aerodynamig, ac yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig yn ychydig and the aerodynamics and push rod rear, pull rod being when the suspension arms like that
[27:46.520 -> 27:48.820] and push rod being like that.
[27:48.820 -> 27:50.580] Push rod rear again seems to suit
[27:50.580 -> 27:52.460] the aerodynamics of the car.
[27:52.460 -> 27:55.960] So it's those sorts of things that I really enjoy.
[27:55.960 -> 28:00.700] Then, once you then go into the details,
[28:00.700 -> 28:02.460] I've kind of, I'm a bit of a,
[28:02.460 -> 28:04.420] well I'm a complete maverick in the organization
[28:04.420 -> 28:05.000] at that point,
[28:05.000 -> 28:10.660] because I tend to go around and see which bit I think or feel
[28:10.660 -> 28:14.340] could possibly be improved from
[28:14.340 -> 28:17.140] a different pair of eyes over and above
[28:17.140 -> 28:20.000] what the guys are working on day in, day out.
[28:20.000 -> 28:25.000] I think that's where occasionally I can contribute
[28:25.600 -> 28:27.600] because I float around a bit,
[28:27.600 -> 28:32.440] then I can sometimes hopefully bring in ideas
[28:32.440 -> 28:34.480] from a slightly different angle
[28:34.480 -> 28:36.480] compared to if you're doing that job,
[28:38.320 -> 28:40.640] as I say, kind of not day in, day out,
[28:40.640 -> 28:42.880] but for a significant amount of your time.
[28:42.880 -> 28:45.400] You do seem like the kind of guy that would,
[28:45.400 -> 28:48.320] maybe you would sit in your office for like half an hour,
[28:48.320 -> 28:49.600] you do a little thing to yourself,
[28:49.600 -> 28:51.240] and then you just end up all over the place
[28:51.240 -> 28:52.520] and just kind of checking on everyone
[28:52.520 -> 28:54.640] and making sure everything is going on.
[28:54.640 -> 28:55.760] Have I got you down to a T?
[28:55.760 -> 28:56.600] Can be like that.
[28:56.600 -> 28:57.440] Yeah.
[28:57.440 -> 28:58.520] So actually I must admit,
[28:58.520 -> 29:01.360] I'm afraid I'm totally unprepared for this interview.
[29:01.360 -> 29:03.440] I know you did give a question sheet,
[29:03.440 -> 29:04.520] which I'm afraid I didn't read before.
[29:04.520 -> 29:09.040] No, that's fine. It's lovely, I feel like we're having a nice little casual chat. This
[29:09.040 -> 29:10.040] is nice.
[29:10.040 -> 29:15.320] Something came up yesterday evening, so a problem we've, area of the car where we feel
[29:15.320 -> 29:23.800] we could do better. And so we started talking about it last night, the usual thing overnight,
[29:23.800 -> 29:26.040] kind of flipping, not the best night's sleep,
[29:26.040 -> 29:26.880] but you start thinking about it.
[29:26.880 -> 29:29.000] Trippy dreams, yeah.
[29:29.000 -> 29:30.120] Well, this morning then,
[29:30.120 -> 29:31.520] then kind of been sketching it
[29:31.520 -> 29:34.000] and then we've got a meeting about it
[29:34.000 -> 29:35.560] in about half an hour's time.
[29:35.560 -> 29:37.000] Oh, okay, so no stress.
[29:37.000 -> 29:37.840] Exactly.
[29:37.840 -> 29:38.920] Let's get through these questions then.
[29:38.920 -> 29:42.400] Right, this one is from Agalos, who is in Canada,
[29:42.400 -> 29:44.200] who says, you've had an incredible career
[29:44.200 -> 29:45.440] across a range of series
[29:45.440 -> 29:47.560] and have had incredible success with Red Bull.
[29:47.560 -> 29:50.320] Is there anything specific that you want to achieve
[29:50.320 -> 29:51.840] before you retire?
[29:51.840 -> 29:54.160] Or have you achieved everything that you've wanted
[29:54.160 -> 29:55.520] and you just want to continue
[29:55.520 -> 29:58.080] until you stop enjoying your work?
[29:59.000 -> 30:01.640] I think in truth, it's the latter.
[30:03.400 -> 30:04.240] As I mentioned earlier,
[30:04.240 -> 30:05.400] my ambition was always
[30:05.400 -> 30:09.560] to work in motor racing, achieved that.
[30:09.560 -> 30:12.000] And I know it sounds a bit corny,
[30:12.000 -> 30:14.640] but every day since then has been a bonus.
[30:14.640 -> 30:15.460] I remember-
[30:15.460 -> 30:16.680] Be corny, love a bit of corny.
[30:16.680 -> 30:20.240] I remember getting to the end of my first month
[30:20.240 -> 30:25.000] at Fittipaldi's and getting my first salary paycheck.
[30:25.000 -> 30:29.840] And I genuinely felt I didn't have any idea what I was doing.
[30:29.840 -> 30:31.760] I don't think I did have any idea what I was doing.
[30:31.760 -> 30:33.920] I was employed as junior aerodynamicist,
[30:33.920 -> 30:36.800] which turned out to be senior aerodynamicist as well.
[30:36.800 -> 30:39.200] I was the one and only aerodynamicist in the team,
[30:39.200 -> 30:41.640] which is unbelievable by today's standards.
[30:41.640 -> 30:44.960] Exactly. And I've got
[30:44.960 -> 30:46.960] no idea what they're doing and they've been stupid enough to pay
[30:46.960 -> 30:47.960] me as well.
[30:47.960 -> 30:54.680] And that's kind of, I think, I suppose I always try to be self-critical.
[30:54.680 -> 30:55.680] Well, I am self-critical.
[30:55.680 -> 30:57.480] I don't need to try to be.
[30:57.480 -> 31:01.080] And I think that's probably a useful thing to be.
[31:01.080 -> 31:05.000] It's a bit like you were asking earlier about the performance of the car.
[31:05.000 -> 31:10.480] I think we all see the faults, not the good sides, in a way. And that's how I think you
[31:10.480 -> 31:18.400] have to be. But yes, I mean, I've been lucky enough to now work with great people in terms
[31:18.400 -> 31:26.640] of my fellow engineers here at Red Bull and at previous teams, Christian, the drivers, some great drivers over the years.
[31:26.640 -> 31:30.040] So it's been a,
[31:30.040 -> 31:32.800] of course, been the odd day,
[31:32.800 -> 31:34.600] well, God, whatever.
[31:34.600 -> 31:38.520] But overall, I've had a wonderful time.
[31:38.520 -> 31:42.440] In terms of, okay, now I'm 64,
[31:42.440 -> 31:44.360] so when do I stop?
[31:44.360 -> 31:47.240] That's the interesting one.
[31:47.240 -> 31:51.200] When I was in my 40s,
[31:51.200 -> 31:54.880] I always thought, right, 60,
[31:54.880 -> 31:56.560] I think 60 will be enough and that's it.
[31:56.560 -> 31:58.600] I'll be out of here and I'll be lying on the beach.
[31:58.600 -> 32:03.920] But then I now know myself well enough to know that I get quite bored.
[32:03.920 -> 32:05.400] Yeah, you'll be doodling. You'll be doing aerodynamics that I get quite bored lying on a beach.
[32:05.400 -> 32:06.400] You'll be doodling.
[32:06.400 -> 32:09.400] You'll be doing aerodynamics of the waves while you're on the beach.
[32:09.400 -> 32:10.400] Exactly.
[32:10.400 -> 32:14.960] But I think maybe at some point, probably to just pull back from Formula One and get
[32:14.960 -> 32:15.960] involved in other things.
[32:15.960 -> 32:20.800] I enjoyed doing the Valkyrie project, what became the Valkyrie, the Aston Martin.
[32:20.800 -> 32:26.000] I've been now working on RB17 as a sort of weekend project,
[32:26.000 -> 32:27.840] like, well, a bit more than weekend project, but.
[32:27.840 -> 32:29.840] I was going to say, it's quite a big weekend project.
[32:29.840 -> 32:31.280] It's a long weekend project.
[32:31.280 -> 32:33.960] So I do involve being another thing,
[32:33.960 -> 32:36.040] involved in other things as well now.
[32:36.040 -> 32:38.360] So this question is from Oliver from Norway.
[32:38.360 -> 32:41.560] He says, what is the most common engineering degree
[32:41.560 -> 32:42.960] in Red Bull racing?
[32:43.920 -> 32:51.080] Ooh, I would hazard a guess it has to be aeronautical engineering.
[32:51.080 -> 32:55.880] Aeronautical engineering, everybody thinks of as them making you an aerodynamicist.
[32:55.880 -> 32:58.720] And of course, to a large extent, that is true.
[32:58.720 -> 33:03.760] I would imagine that all our aerodynamics departments have, just about all of them,
[33:03.760 -> 33:05.920] will have aeronautical engineering
[33:05.920 -> 33:14.240] degrees. But it also teaches you about structures, control theories, so on and so forth. So I
[33:14.240 -> 33:20.920] think if the question is also, if the question is from a lad who's looking at what to do
[33:20.920 -> 33:25.120] for university, then I would suggest aeronautical engineering
[33:25.120 -> 33:26.440] at one of the better universities
[33:26.440 -> 33:28.280] if you can manage it, it's fantastic.
[33:29.800 -> 33:31.440] But it also depends what your interest is.
[33:31.440 -> 33:35.840] If, for instance, it's simulation vehicle dynamics,
[33:35.840 -> 33:37.400] you might be better off with a maths degree.
[33:37.400 -> 33:41.200] So it really depends on the interest.
[33:41.200 -> 33:43.960] And finally, this is from Noel in the Netherlands,
[33:43.960 -> 33:47.140] who says, do you think F1 cars will get much
[33:47.140 -> 33:52.140] faster in the future? Because they're already pretty blummin' fast. I might have changed
[33:52.140 -> 33:57.740] the blummin', I am being blummin'. You've enhanced the question. I did a little bit,
[33:57.740 -> 34:07.000] yeah. It's all controlled by regulations. So if we didn't have regulations, Formula 1 cars would be ridiculously fast.
[34:07.000 -> 34:08.000] Rocket ships.
[34:08.000 -> 34:09.560] Yeah, they would be rocket ships.
[34:09.560 -> 34:13.720] At which point safety would, of course, be the big, big problem.
[34:13.720 -> 34:18.480] And tyre failures, because I think then the limitation, if we were just allowed to develop
[34:18.480 -> 34:23.840] as much downforce as we could, the tyre manufacturers have it hard enough as it is without it.
[34:23.840 -> 34:27.000] They just wouldn't be able to take the loads.
[34:27.000 -> 34:36.000] So it is possible, for instance, that this current generation of Formula 1 cars will be the fastest for some time
[34:36.000 -> 34:41.000] because the 2026 rules, as proposed at the moment, the cars will be quite a lot slower.
[34:41.000 -> 34:43.000] Ah, interesting. Right, okay.
[34:43.000 -> 34:45.840] Right, so we're on to our final game. It's
[34:45.840 -> 34:50.960] the HP Poly game. So we are sponsored by HP Poly. If you want to pop on your headset,
[34:52.080 -> 34:57.280] that'd be great. Right, so here is how you get, oh, can you hear me? Let's take that for a second.
[34:57.280 -> 35:02.080] Right, so this is how you earn your points, right? We're going to play you three clips. Now, all I
[35:02.080 -> 35:08.240] need you to do is tell me which car you are hearing and then you'll get a point
[35:08.240 -> 35:42.880] for each one that you get right. So let's pop on your headset and we'll go for car number one. Go for it. It's clearly either a V8 or a V10 from the normally aspirated era.
[35:45.000 -> 35:47.800] It's nearly either a V8 or a V10 from the normally aspirated era. I would guess that that's a V8, not a V10.
[35:47.800 -> 35:51.040] It's not easy to tell them apart sometimes.
[35:51.040 -> 35:53.400] So I would say that's...
[35:53.400 -> 35:57.360] It's an engine type or you actually want me to guess the actual car?
[35:57.360 -> 35:58.560] The car and the year.
[35:58.560 -> 35:59.560] The car and the...
[35:59.560 -> 36:00.560] Oh, goodness sake.
[36:00.560 -> 36:02.560] Just to make it a little bit tough.
[36:02.560 -> 36:05.560] To be fair, on Christian's episode, he had it really
[36:05.560 -> 36:09.000] tough. So, we're trying to make it live.
[36:09.000 -> 36:15.240] All right, thanks. Okay, so I'm going to say, therefore, I mean, most recent it can be is
[36:15.240 -> 36:22.040] 2013. Which of those cars?
[36:22.040 -> 36:24.160] I don't want to rush you, but we've got two more clips.
[36:24.160 -> 36:26.000] Let's go for 2.13.
[36:26.000 -> 36:28.000] Oh yeah, you're going for 2.13?
[36:28.000 -> 36:30.000] Oh, okay, you are wrong I'm afraid.
[36:30.000 -> 36:32.000] It is the RB7 from 2011.
[36:32.000 -> 36:34.000] Are you ready for number two?
[36:34.000 -> 36:35.000] Go on then.
[36:35.000 -> 36:37.000] Go on then, put your headset on.
[36:37.000 -> 36:57.120] Okay, clip number two. These are hard, aren't they?
[36:57.120 -> 36:59.960] Yeah, well, you know.
[36:59.960 -> 37:01.640] There's a big prize, there's no prize.
[37:01.640 -> 37:02.640] I'm glad to hear that.
[37:02.640 -> 37:03.640] You get a lifetime supply of oxygen, why not?
[37:03.640 -> 37:05.280] Have you done some research on all these? There's a big prize, there's no prize. I'm glad to hear that. A lifetime supply of oxygen, why not?
[37:05.280 -> 37:08.440] It'll be done in a week or so, we'll get all these.
[37:08.440 -> 37:12.280] Right, so it's clearly a semi-automatic gearbox.
[37:12.280 -> 37:13.080] Clearly.
[37:13.080 -> 37:15.200] Yeah, as in very quick gear changes.
[37:15.200 -> 37:16.480] Yeah.
[37:16.480 -> 37:19.600] Still sounds.
[37:19.600 -> 37:22.680] Would you think a similar era?
[37:22.000 -> 37:26.000] Would you think a similar era?
[37:31.000 -> 37:34.000] It's a bit of a funny sound because it doesn't sound quite like the V8s, but equally it doesn't really sound like the V6s.
[37:34.000 -> 37:37.000] But it's definitely not a V8, so I think it has to be a V6,
[37:37.000 -> 37:40.000] so I'm going to say an RB18.
[37:43.000 -> 37:47.760] It's the RB12 from 2016. OK, last one, last one, last one.
[37:47.760 -> 37:50.240] I was right on the V6. This is number three. So far you're doing terribly.
[37:52.320 -> 38:17.000] Last one, clip number three. You don't look confident.
[38:17.000 -> 38:19.200] No, I'm not.
[38:19.200 -> 38:21.280] That sounds like a very early V6.
[38:21.280 -> 38:24.160] Oh, you're going early, interesting.
[38:24.160 -> 38:25.800] Early V6 turbo. So I'd say that's... Oh, you're going early, interesting. Early V6 turbo.
[38:25.800 -> 38:28.760] So I'd say, I'll say the 2014 car.
[38:28.760 -> 38:32.360] Now I'm wondering if you might want
[38:32.360 -> 38:34.040] to go a bit newer than that.
[38:34.040 -> 38:36.000] Oh, goodness.
[38:36.000 -> 38:38.520] So don't tell me that was an RV18.
[38:38.520 -> 38:40.600] It wasn't an RV18.
[38:40.600 -> 38:41.800] Well, how are we doing?
[38:41.800 -> 38:44.600] Well, I came to, Adrian, you scored zero out of three.
[38:44.600 -> 38:45.000] Thank you. Well done, well done. Well, I can tell, Adrian, you scored zero out of three.
[38:45.000 -> 38:46.000] Thank you.
[38:46.000 -> 38:47.000] Well done, well done.
[38:47.000 -> 38:50.000] Well, that's all we've got time for.
[38:50.000 -> 38:52.000] I want to say a massive thank you for joining.
[38:52.000 -> 38:53.000] It's been lovely to chat to you.
[38:53.000 -> 38:54.000] It's been really great.
[38:54.000 -> 38:56.000] Hopefully, we can catch up again at some point soon.
[38:56.000 -> 38:57.000] Yeah, and don't put me on a game show again.
[38:57.000 -> 38:59.000] I'm going to make it even more difficult next time.
[38:59.000 -> 39:01.000] In that case, I'll be minus five, yeah.
[39:01.000 -> 39:02.000] Yeah.
[39:02.000 -> 39:03.000] All righty.
[39:03.000 -> 39:04.000] Thank you very much, Nicola.
[39:04.000 -> 39:05.000] Thank you.
[39:05.000 -> 39:06.000] But join us next time on Talking Ball.
[39:01.140 -> 39:03.140] I'll be minus five.
[39:03.140 -> 39:04.860] All righty, thank you very much, Nicola.
[39:04.860 -> 39:06.980] But join us next time on Talking Bull.