NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Newey: constructors' hat-trick so satisfying

Red Bull Racing's chief technical officer Adrian Newey has now achieved a hat-trick of constructors' championship succeses with both Williams and Red Bull Racing. He admitted, however, that Red Bull's win this season has perhaps been the most satisfying of all.

The 53-year-old said in Austin: "To achieve the hat-trick is special and I'm lucky enough to have achieved it at Williams and here at Red Bull. A second place and three first places in a row is a great tribute to everyone at the team.

"Of the Red Bull successes, last year was the easiest and in comparison with 2010, this one has been different. In 2010 we had a lot of silly points losses at the start due to reliability, driver mistakes and so forth, but the car had good pace. This year, pace-wise, has been close but we've struggled a bit early and mid-season particularly, to understand the car and get it working properly.

"That bore out my pre-season fear that to have been on side exhausts for two years and developed the whole car around that philosophy and technology, to have it taken away over the winter was probably a bigger step back for us than for other people.

"To make the end of season step has been very satisfying but a lot of hard work. It's been exhausting (no pun intended!) to keep it up."

Newey added that although the team allowed itself a celebration in Texas, he regards the job as only half done with Sebastian Vettel going to Brazil this weekend with a 13-point advantage over Fernando Alonso in his quest for a third consecutive drivers' title."

If there's a cloud on the horizon other than potential rain at Interlagos, it's the alternator failure suffered by Mark Webber in Austin, the team's third of the year. Newey confirmed that the failure was nothing to do with cooling or electrical load and diverted questions as to the specification of the Brazilian GP alternators to Renault, suppliers of the alternators.

"It's not a new componen," he said, "It's been on the Renault engine since 2005 -- and it's been failing since 2005..."

Team principal Christian Horner said: "The one that failed in Austin was the older spec. The new version has raced on other engine cycles and so hopefully that's what we'll have for Brazil."