Over 20 years ago, when Adrian Newey worked at McLaren, a story went around the Formula 1 paddock that he had effectively locked himself in his office with his drawing board. Once he’d finished sketching a design, went the gossip, he pushed it through a letterbox for collection by aero chief Peter Prodromou, whose job it was to ensure the various design offices turned the sketch into competitive reality.
This may or may not be the work of idle tittle-tattle, but it’s a mark of Newey’s reputation that people were willing to give credence to a story that framed him like the mad old lady in the attic in a Victorian novel. Fourteen drivers’-championship-winning cars started life on his famous drawing board, plus at least 10 that fell just short, and yet he is notoriously publicity-shy.
