Adrian Newey impressed after touring the F2 setup

Newey gets doused on the Silverstone podium

Red Bull Racing’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey has hailed the FIA Formula Two Championship after taking a tour of the series’ operation at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend (27/28 June).

Newey was competing in the Britcar Spa Euro Race at the legendary F1 circuit, but took time away from his racing schedule to enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of the F2 setup from MotorSport Vision’s Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer.

Adrian Newey said: "I was impressed with what I saw in Formula Two – it seems to satisfy the criteria we set as a Formula One team. When we are developing a car we are looking to develop a driver's ability to describe what the car is doing. The key thing is that drivers are able to work with engineers and give good feedback; if they're going to become F1 drivers then understanding what the car does and how to describe that to your race engineer is absolutely key. From what I saw, Formula Two is a great way to develop young drivers."

With three Red Bull drivers competing in Formula Two in 2009, Newey also claimed that F2 is a series they will be monitoring over the course of the season.

Newey added: "Obviously if one of the Red Bull guys dominates in the championship then we would probably give them a test drive in Formula One. It is fantastic to have a senior level category with this kind of budget – it's a great alternative to series like GP2, where it can be so difficult to raise the budget. Having the cars produced to an exact equal standard is also a good way of finding out just how good the young drivers are. I think Jonathan Palmer has come up with a great series."