Newey confesses he doubted his F1 future: 'Found main motivation'

Newey decided he wanted to leave Red Bull during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. "Then genuinely had no idea what would be next," confessed the most successful designer in Formula 1's history. "Just wanted to have a blank mind, take stock, enjoy a bit of a break. I was hoping that [I would] kind of be standing in the shower somewhere and the spark would come [saying] yep, this should be the direction. And Mandy [Newey's wife] was a big part of that and our discussions about what should we do? I think she was worried that I would probably drive her a bit mad if I was at home too much."

What inspired Newey to continue in F1?

Towards the end of June, Newey realised he still wanted to design F1 cars. "I think it would be an exaggeration to say I've enjoyed every single day of my career, but well over 90% has been hugely enjoyable. I still love the challenge of trying to add performance to the car," he added.

"That's my prime motivation and that's what gets me up in the morning. I think what's amazing about technical sport, the combination of man and machine, you have that immediate feedback of how you're doing. It can be painful when you're doing badly, but you have that feedback."

And so he decided to continue in F1. "I remain interested in many other things but if i'm going to do man and machine then I might as well keep going at the pinnacle as long as people want me," laughed Newey.

This article has been created in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen