Sebastian Vettel has urged the designer of his dominant Red Bull cars, Adrian Newey, to forget about switching to the world of competitive yachting.
Before meeting with British sailor Sir Ben Ainslie in Abu Dhabi last weekend, Briton Newey admitted he was interested in getting involved with designing an America’s Cup boat. “I can’t imagine him doing that,” new quadruple world champion Vettel told Austria’s Servus TV. “I’ve never seen him go boating — he loves driving and has a lot of fun doing it,” the German smiled. “If he goes boating, he will always come back with a huge sunburn, which is not right,” Vettel joked.
Vettel might have delivered the comments in jest, but the message was dead serious — Newey plays a crucial role in Red Bull’s success. “Maybe someday,” Newey answered when asked if the America’s Cup is in his plans, “but not in the near future.” He told Servus TV that the all-new rules for 2014 could shake up the pecking order in F1. But the team’s Dr Helmut Marko is much more confident. “We have Adrian Newey!” he exclaimed. “Whenever there is a change of rules,” added Marko, “his cars are unbeatable.”
Info: GMM, Image: Red Bull Content Pool
