Adrian Newey drives iconic title-winning Ferrari at Goodwood with F1 future still uncertain

Adrian Newey was in action at the Goodwood over the weekend as he was in the seat of Niki Lauda’s iconic Ferrari 312T F1 car.

Newey was behind the wheel of Lauda’s championship-winning Ferrari, with the Red Bull design guru describing the experience as “really special”.

The focus was on Newey across the weekend as his Red Bull hypercar was launched for the first time.

The 65-year-old also drove the Aston Martin Valkyrie, a car he and Red Bull build collaboratively with the British brand.

But reflecting on his experience in Lauda’s legendary Ferrari, Newey felt it was a “fitting tribute”.

“Third time actually! To be driving Niki’s old car, his championship-winning car is so special, it really is,” he said.

“I knew Niki quite well so to be in here, sitting in the same seat and just trying to think what he must have been experiencing and how he prepared for the starts and everything - really special.”

“It’s absolutely amazing. A very fitting tribute to him.”

F1 has come a long way since the 1970s, which is the era Lauda’s Ferrari is from.

Newey conceded that being a designer during this time would have been “fascinating” due to the small rule book.

“The cars are so different,” he added. “I love these cars. I grew up with the Lotus 49 from ‘67, ‘68, the first car I started to look at and then by the time I got to ‘74, this car, when I was 15, I did a painting of it actually for my art project.

“Look at the engineering back then. It must have been a fascinating era to work in because on the plus side you had a rule book which was about two pages but the budgets are relatively small.

“Much more importantly, you didn’t have the search tools so everything was primarily was down to gut instinct, wind tunnels were just starting. Must have been fascinating.”

Newey’s F1 future is still unclear as he departs Red Bull in the first quarter of 2025.

He’s been heavily linked with moves to Aston Martin and McLaren, with links to Ferrari seemingly cooling recently.