Verstappen swept to his second world title in dominant style this yr, scoring a document 15 wins via the season behind the wheel of the Pink Bull RB18 automotive, whereas Pink Bull additionally clinched its first constructors’ title since 2013.
The dominance of the RB18 got here regardless of an prolonged growth cycle for the RB16B in 2021, when Verstappen was engaged in a detailed battle for the championship with Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton.
Many groups opted to finish their growth early in 2021 to give attention to the overhauled rules for 2022, however Pink Bull opted to maintain bringing updates to efficiently assist Verstappen’s title bid.
Pink Bull was recognised for its success in Sunday’s Autosport Awards because the RB18 gained Worldwide Racing Automobile of the 12 months, the gong being collected by Newey and the Pink Bull technical crew.
Newey mentioned the success of the RB18 automotive had been “very particular”, significantly given the late swap to specializing in 2022 that he thinks might maybe have come sooner.
“We had fairly a brief growth interval, significantly as a result of we stored growing final yr’s automotive within the battle for the championship, arguably longer than we should always have executed,” Newey instructed Motorsport.com after amassing the award.
“That gave us lots to do over the winter. What we tried to give attention to was getting the basics of the automotive proper as this yr’s automotive, after which hoping that might give us the event potential to type of refine it.
“That’s fortuitously the way it panned out.”
Adrian Newey OBE being interviewed on the pink carpet
Photograph by: Nils Jorgensen / Motorsport Photos
Pink Bull fought neck-and-neck with Ferrari via the early a part of the season, just for its in-season growth to drag it comfortably clear because the quickest crew after the summer time break.
The crew gained 10 of the ultimate 11 races, permitting each titles to be wrapped up early because it set a brand new document for level scored by a crew in a single season.
Newey mentioned on stage at Grosvenor Home that he thought Ferrari was forward via pre-season testing, however Pink Bull’s focus was on making a automotive that might work effectively on all tracks.
“In actuality, Ferrari, in pre-season, had been most likely faster,” mentioned Newey.
“We had an excellent, efficient first race improve. That made it very shut, after which it was actually a good battle early on. Ferrari had been faster in some races, we had been faster in others.
“We discovered from that and tried to make a well-rounded automotive for the second half of the season, to be sure that it labored on all circuits. I believe all of us collectively did an honest job there.”