When Adrian Newey couldn’t hold back his tears following Max Verstappen’s first title win in 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP

In 2021, former Red Bull CTO Adrian Newey couldn't hold back his tears following Max Verstappen's first title win following a dramatic Abu Dhabi GP. It had been eight years since the Austrian team had won a championship in the sport, lagging behind Mercedes in the turbo hybrid era until that year.

The tension and drama on the final lap of the titanic title tussle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen got everyone nervous, including Newey, who had won several titles previously.

In a video shared on social media, the aero wizard was visibly emotional on the pit wall after the Dutch driver took the chequered flag as the world champion for the first time at Yas Marina Circuit. The Red Bull driver overtook his rival Hamilton on the final lap of the race to take the title. The two had been tied on points heading into the season finale.

More recently, during his appearance on the High Performance podcast, Newey dismissed suggestions that Verstappen needed support to face the criticism he received after the controversial ending of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP.

Newey said:

“Max is so self-assured. This is in a positive way, not a negative way. There’s arrogance and there’s self-assured. He’s not arrogant but he’s self-assured, self-confident. He’s a deep-thinker but he doesn’t let things like that…I don’t think they really get to him. He’s able to shut that off and get on with that job, doing what he loves doing—which is driving racing cars.”

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Adrian Newey on Mercedes' response to 2021 Abu Dhabi GP 2021

Adrian Newey said the Mercedes F1 team's reaction after the controversial ending of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP wasn't the right one and it got to them psychologically.

On the High Performance podcast, the 65-year-old said:

“No, it didn’t [affect me]. I think it got to Mercedes. Instead of saying ‘OK, we will accept it and move on’,t it started to affect their psyche which is an interesting one. That’s from the outside. I could be completely wrong[...] They couldn’t let it go psychologically.

Newey added,

Part of my position I suppose is to help... to try to hopefully motivate everybody, not... so just saying, you know, 'it's so unfair and we were robbed'...and all that doesn't help does it[...]

Max Verstappen followed up his 2021 championship win with two subsequent titles in 2022 and 2023, with Red Bull claiming constructors' championships in the new regulations' era in Adrian Newey-designed cars.

Newey will be joining the Aston Martin F1 team in the final years of the current regulations next year, having left the Austrian team after a 19-year stint.