BBV10s S6 E6: When Jaguar tried to snatch Newey from McLaren
Added 2024-06-05 00:48:11 +0000 UTCJaguar appeared to have struck gold in the summer of 2001 when it announced it had snapped up design genius Adrian Newey from McLaren. But just 13 days later, its hopes of getting one of F1's greatest ever technical minds were over.
Edd Straw and former Jaguar Racing website Editor Andrew Van de Burgt revisit an incredible fortnight in the F1 news cycle, and we also hear briefly from Newey, plus insight from Bobby Rahal - the man who orchestrated what would have been one of the greatest surprise deals of the 21st century.
We explore the background at both McLaren and Jaguar in late-2000 that led to the deal coming together over the early months of 2001, the importance of the friendship between Newey and Rahal that dated back to IndyCar racing in the 1980s, and how Niki Lauda played an unintended role in the deal falling apart.
Originally published on 11 Aug 2022
Comments
Hey John, love seeing comments on older episodes! Newey was certainly very demanding on engine suppliers, but it was only really the original MP4-18/19 where he was too demanding. Before that it was more of a Mercedes issue.
The Race
2025-01-30 17:04:23 +0000 UTCGreat podcast. I would say that some of those engine failures at McLaren may have been caused by the car design . Does Adrian Newey sometimes sacrifice cooling for better aero?
John Bramwell
2025-01-30 16:42:06 +0000 UTC
