March/Leyton House (1988–1990) led and finished second at the wheel of the
Leyton House CG901. Newey's first Formula One design, the
March 881, was far more competitive than many expected, with
Ivan Capelli finishing second in
Portugal, and even passing
Alain Prost's
McLaren-
Honda turbo for the lead of the
1988 Japanese Grand Prix briefly on lap 16. As March became
Leyton House Racing in , Newey gained promotion to the role of technical director. At the
1990 French Grand Prix, Capelli led the most part of the race and finished second after a late pass by Prost's
Ferrari, but that proved to be the year's bright spot, with the team's results declining. In the summer of 1990, Newey was fired, although he soon found another role. Newey later said: "I was fired but I'd already made up my mind I was going – because once a team gets run by an accountant, it's time to move. Your self-confidence does suffer but Williams had approached me."
Williams (1991–1996) won 17 Grands Prix, 21 pole positions, and 289 points, earning
Nigel Mansell the 1992 title. driven by 1996 World Champion
Damon Hill Through the 1980s and into the 1990s,
Williams was a top running team, and technical director
Patrick Head wasted no time in getting a contract signed. With a vastly superior budget, drivers, and resources at his disposal, Newey and Head rapidly became the dominant design partnership of the early 1990s. By mid-season , Newey's
FW14 chassis was every bit a match for the previously dominant
McLaren, but early season reliability issues and the efforts of
Ayrton Senna prevented Williams team leader
Nigel Mansell from taking the title. In , there would be no problems, and with dominance of the sport not repeated until the 2000s
Ferrari years of
Michael Schumacher, Mansell took the Drivers' title and Newey secured his first Constructors' title. delivered a second, this time with
Alain Prost at the wheel of the
FW15C. saw a rare dip in performance for Newey-designed cars and the team and drivers struggled to match Schumacher and the
Rory Byrne-designed
Benetton B194 for pace and reliability. Disaster struck at the
1994 San Marino Grand Prix with the
death of Senna who had joined Williams that year. A late-season charge, helped by a two-race ban for Schumacher, enabled Williams to claim their third straight Constructors' title; however, Williams were unable to take a third consecutive Drivers' title, and with possible
manslaughter charges for Senna's accident in prospect, cracks began to show in Newey's relationship with Williams team management. By , it was clear that Newey was once more ready to become technical director of a team. With Head a share-holding founder of Williams, he found his way blocked. Loss of both Drivers' and Constructors' titles to Benetton in 1995 saw further distance put between Newey and Williams, and by the time
Damon Hill and
Jacques Villeneuve secured both titles in , Newey had been placed on
gardening leave prior to joining McLaren. His career at Williams ended with his cars winning 59 race victories, 78 pole positions, and 60 fastest laps all from 114 races from 1991 until . These seven years saw four drivers clinch World Championship titles.
McLaren (1997–2005) in a
McLaren MP4-13 Unable to influence the design of the 1997 McLaren (the
MP4/12), Newey was forced to attempt to improve on the
Neil Oatley design while concentrating his efforts on the 1998 car. A win at the
1997 European Grand Prix saw McLaren enter the off-season on a high, and when the racing resumed four months later the
McLaren MP4/13 was the car to beat. Titles followed in and (with the
McLaren MP4/14), and
Mika Häkkinen narrowly missed out on a third Drivers' title in . In the spring of , Newey signed a contract with the
Jaguar F1 team managed by Newey's friend and former CART colleague
Bobby Rahal. Despite having a signed contract, Rahal was unable to complete the deal when
McLaren boss
Ron Dennis persuaded Newey to stay. Newey and Rahal later stated that the deal failed due to Rahal's position within Jaguar being undermined by
Niki Lauda and internal politics at
Ford. Rahal was fired from the team several months later. Despite remaining with McLaren, rumours persisted that Newey wanted to leave the team. By late , his future began to look uncertain when speculation began that Newey could return to Williams or even leave the sport completely. Despite strenuous denials from Dennis, stories continued to circulate during the 2004–2005 off-season that Newey's departure was imminent. In April 2005, it was confirmed that his contract with the team had been extended by six months to the end of the year at which point he was expected to take a sabbatical or retire from Formula One design completely. On 19 July, he stated that "this step can wait" and he would remain with McLaren for the year .
Red Bull (2006–2024) and
Mark Webber at the
2010 Malaysian Grand Prix in the
Red Bull RB6. Vettel won his and Red Bull's maiden title that year. . . Despite those assurances,
Red Bull Racing announced on 8 November 2005 that Newey would join the team from February 2006. He was reported to getting around $10 million a year at Red Bull after McLaren baulked at increasing his salary in contract renewal negotiations. Newey could hardly influence the design of the 2006 car (the
RB2) and Red Bull's season started with poor results, having scored only two points from six races; however, the team's lead driver,
David Coulthard, who had driven Newey-designed cars for years for both Williams and McLaren, managed to secure third place and six points in the
Monaco Grand Prix. Although assisted by retirements of other competitors, indications were that the team was eventually beginning to pick up where it left off in when they finished a close seventh overall. The Red Bull of his design (the
RB3) was powered by the
Renault RS26 engine as the Ferrari 056 contract was transferred to
Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing's sister team. The car was reasonably fast but rather unreliable, with each driver retiring seven times in a season of 17 races. Nevertheless, with the disqualification of McLaren-Mercedes, Red Bull achieved fifth place in the 2007 Constructors' Championship as targeted. Newey and his fellow technical director
Geoff Willis noted that the chassis (the
RB4) was the most intricate design to have rolled out of their factory. The season started well for the team, with
Mark Webber scoring five consecutive points finishes and Coulthard claiming a podium at Montreal. At the half-way mark, Red Bull was in a fierce battle for fourth place in the Constructors Championship, along with Renault and
Toyota; however, Red Bull scored just five points in the second half of the season (compared to 24 in the first half) as the team slipped down the grid. Even Toro Rosso managed to outscore them by the end of the season. The
RB5, the car Newey designed for , represented a large step up in performance for the team, with one–two finishes at Shanghai, in a rain affected race, and at the British Grand Prix, both won by
Sebastian Vettel. Webber went on to win in Germany before a hat-trick of wins for the team at the end of the season, including another one–two in Abu Dhabi. Red Bull finished the season a comfortable second in the Constructors' Championship. The Red Bull car (the
RB6) started the season well and proved to be the class of the field, winning on circuits requiring strengths in widely differing areas and winning the Constructors' Championship. It took 15 out of a possible 19 pole positions. At the
2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull won the 2010 Constructors' Championship. On 14 November 2010, when Red Bull won the World Drivers' Championship with Vettel, Newey became the only Formula One designer to have won Constructors' Championships with three different teams. The 2011
RB7 built on the RB6's speed and also proved to be reliable, making it the clearly dominant car in the pack. The car took 18 of the 19 pole positions and won 12 races. On 9 October, Red Bull won the World Drivers' Championship, making Vettel the youngest double champion in the history of Formula One. Red Bull followed up this title with securing the Constructors' Championship on 16 October at the
2011 Korean Grand Prix. In , despite initial concerns as to the
RB8's superiority compared to the
McLaren MP4-27 and a stern challenge from Ferrari's
Fernando Alonso in the inferior
F2012, Red Bull and Vettel once again claimed the championship at a dramatic
2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. In , the
RB9 and Vettel dominated the field after the summer break to defend both the World Drivers' and World Constructors' Championship in style at the
2013 Indian Grand Prix with Vettel scoring a record-breaking 9 consecutive wins from the
2013 Belgian Grand Prix until the season-ending
2013 Brazilian Grand Prix. On 8 June 2014, Red Bull Racing announced that Newey had extended his contract for the next few seasons, giving Newey a wider responsibility including "new Red Bull Technology projects". Allegedly, Red Bull fought off a £20 million contract offer by
Ferrari. , the car Newey designed for Red Bull for the 2023 season, driven by
Max Verstappen. After the sport introduced
V6 turbo-hybrid power units in , Newey's cars were held back by the performance of the Renault power units, but a switch to
Honda power in 2019 eventually gave the team a power unit capable of winning a title. Between 2014 and , all of his cars except the
RB11 driven by
Daniel Ricciardo and
Daniil Kvyat in won at least two Grands Prix, with the
RB10,
RB12, and
RB16 taking second place in the 2014, , and 2020 Constructors' Championships. The season saw the team return to title contention, with the
RB16B design winning the Drivers' Championship with
Max Verstappen. In , the
RB18 proved to be a strong contender and gave Verstappen his second Drivers' Championship at the
2022 Japanese Grand Prix, as well as delivering Red Bull their first Constructors' Championship since 2013. It was followed in by the
RB19, which would end up being one of the most dominant Formula One cars in history, with a win rate of 95.45% beating the previous record of 93.8% set by the
McLaren MP4/4 from 1988. At the
2023 Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen took Red Bull's 100th win, which also marked Newey's 200th win in Formula One. Later that year, Red Bull broke McLaren's legendary record of 11 consecutives victories by winning in Hungary. At Monza, Verstappen broke Vettel's historic 9 consecutive wins. This win was also the 15th in a row for Red Bull, setting two new records. On 25 April 2024, motorsport media outlets began reporting Newey having interest in leaving Red Bull. Red Bull Racing responded to the reports via a spokesman to PlanetF1.com stating that "Adrian is contracted until at least the end of 2025 ... We are unaware of him joining any other team." Five days later, it was reported that Newey's departure was complete and an official announcement would be issued prior to the
2024 Miami Grand Prix. In , the
RB20 went on to win the Drivers' Championship with Verstappen but Red Bull finished only third in the Constructors' Championship. Newey left Red Bull Racing during the first quarter of and stepped away from his Formula One duties while still working on their first
hypercar on the trackside, the
RB17.
Aston Martin (2025–present) Newey signed a contract with
Aston Martin, as a shareholder and Managing Technical Partner for the team. His move was announced in September 2024 with him officially starting work on 1 March 2025, in time for the regulations. In November 2025 it was announced that Newey will take over the role of Team Principal at Aston Martin in 2026, replacing incumbent Andy Cowell who will move to the role of Chief Strategy Officer. == Death of Ayrton Senna ==