‘He doesn’t build bad cars’: Lewis Hamilton heaps praise on Red Bull chief designer Adrian Newey

Hamilton says Newey’s championship-leading design of the Red Bull car is ‘no surprise’ as the Mercedes star praised his rival team

Lewis Hamilton has heaped praise on Red Bull chief technology officer Adrian Newey for the “phenomenal job” he has done with the championship-leading 2022 car.

Max Verstappen currently has a 91-point lead over Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in the drivers’ standings after 14 races, with Red Bull also 118 points out in front in the constructors’ standings.

Meanwhile, Mercedes, who have won the constructors’ championship eight years in a row, have been well off the pace in 2022 with their unique “no sidepods” design and are yet to win a grand prix.

Hamilton, who has eight races left to keep up his record of winning a grand prix in every year he’s competed in Formula One, paid tribute to Newey for nailing the new regulations this season with Red Bull’s RB18, referring to his own rookie car in 2007 at McLaren too.

“They’ve [Red Bull] got the aero-balance right, great ride quality, no problems with bumps,’ Hamilton said, in the media pen ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Red Bull chief technology officer Adrian Newey (Getty)

“They’re an amazing team and have done a phenomenal job. Adrian Newey doesn’t generally build bad cars. My first championship car [in 2007] was an evolution of his car.

“He did a thesis [from the University of Southampton] on ground-effect cars. It’s no surprise, he’s one of the only ones who draws these cars by hand.”

Newey was at McLaren from 1997-2005 before joining Red Bull in 2006, where his design led to Sebastian Vettel’s four straight world titles from 2010-2013 and he continues to spearhead Red Bull’s car design year-on-year.

Meanwhile, Hamilton insisted that there are “loads of bits” on the Mercedes W13 that he would change as the Silver Arrows start to focus on next year’s car, with Toto Wolff saying post-Belgium that the design would be decided in the next few weeks.

(Getty Images)

“There’s performance in there [W13], it’s just whether we can utilise it,” Hamilton added.

“The Red Bull works in the majority of places, it’s understanding why. There’s loads of bits in this car we would change, I would change, and that’s what we’ll try and do next year.”

Verstappen also emphasised the “efficiency” of the Red Bull car after his sensational win at Spa-Francorchamps from 14th on the grid.

Max Verstappen crossed the line nearly 18 seconds clear of Sergio Perez in Belgium (Olivier Matthys/AP) (AP)

“We kept on trying to work and improve the balance of what I feel in the car,” he said.

“Overall, it’s an efficient car. We’ve been quite quick on the straights and Spa is one of the best tracks for that. With all the updates this year we’ve got it in a better window. It was very enjoyable to drive in Spa, we’ll see in the upcoming races how it’s going to go.”