Former Ferrari general manager Peter Windsor criticizes the Italian side for missing out on the opportunity to bring Adrian Newey in Maranello and maybe also to sign Max Verstappen. According to the former manager of the Scuderia, bringing the super-technician to Maranello would have meant the possibility of convincing the Dutch champion as well. Everything dates back to the end of 2014, with the conclusion of Sebastian Vettel‘s cycle and the beginning of the Mercedes era.
The context of 2014 is well remembered. Just a few months earlier, Red Bull had confirmed its dominance in Formula 1, with Sebastian Vettel becoming World Champion for the fourth time. Behind those cars was Adrian Newey, victorious in the closely contested battles with Ferrari in both 2010 and 2012. However, with the start of the new Championship, it was clear that Mercedes was the new queen of the sport.
Christian Horner had revealed, on the Eff Won with DRS podcast, that Maranello had attempted to hire Adrian Newey. In the end, though, the (demanding) requests of the engineer were better met in Milton Keynes.
Peter Windsor, who has previously worked as a manager at Ferrari, commented on the matter in a YouTube live stream: “Talking about the stupidity of the teams and how one man, Adrian Newey, made everyone look ridiculous. Imagine if Ferrari had the intelligence to hire him, pay him two billion or whatever, they would have already recovered the money spent. They would have won four or five World Championships.”
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“Indeed, the fact that Ferrari didn’t get Adrian Newey is much stupider than he himself is making the rest of the grid look. Simply because, if he had gone to Ferrari, without a doubt, Maranello would have won more World Championships.”
And when it comes to Max Verstappen, the regrets should be even greater: “Probably Max would have gone with him [Adrian Newey, editor’s note]. But they wouldn’t have done that, would they? They didn’t.”
Source: f1ingenerale
