F1: Adrian Newey still trails Aldo Costa as F1’s greatest ever designer

The two greatest car designers in F1 history, Aldo Costa and Adrian Newey, are now neck and neck in determining who is the greatest of all-time.

Aldo Costa is now retired and working part-time for Dallara back in Italy on other projects, but he still holds a lead over Newey who is still cranking out winning cars.

Aldo Costa

The Facts

While they both have designed cars that took 12 drivers to a F1 title, Costa still leads Newey by 3 Constructors Titles (assuming Newey sews up his 11th next weekend in Austin

Designer Constructor Titles Drivers’ Titles
Aldo Costa 14 (14.5) 12
Adrian Newey 11 12

While a lot has been said about Adrian Newey greatness because he is British and the F1 media is heavily pro-British, Aldo Costa is still the greatest F1 designer in history.

The facts don’t lie.

However, Newey can add to his totals and take the lead if he wins 4 more Constructor’s Titles.

Costa retired in 2019, but stayed on as a design consultant for Mercedes another year and designed the Dual Axis Steering (DAS) system that brought Hamilton yet another title in 2020.

Costa does not get credited with the car design for 2020 because he designed only the DAS portion of the car, but in fact it was his DAS concept and design on the 2020 car that gave Hamilton his 7th world title.

He designed 14 championship winning F1 cars, and should have an asterisk next to that number because he was a big part of the 2020 Championship winning car.

Shall we give him 14.5?

Aldo Costa F1 World Championships 

No. Seasons Constructors’ Championhips Drivers’ Championships Cars
1 1999 FIA F1 Season Ferrari N/A F399
2 2000 FIA F1 Season Ferrari Michael Schumacher F1-2000
3 2001 FIA F1 Season Ferrari Michael Schumacher F2001
4 2002 FIA F1 Season Ferrari Michael Schumacher F2002
5 2003 FIA F1 Season Ferrari Michael Schumacher F2003-GA
6 2004 FIA F1 Season Ferrari Michael Schumacher F2004
7 2007 FIA F1 Season Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen F2007
8 2008 FIA F1 Season Ferrari N/A F2008
9 2014 FIA F1 Season Mercedes Lewis Hamilton F1 W05 Hybrid
10 2015 FIA F1 Season Mercedes Lewis Hamilton F1 W06 Hybrid
11 2016 FIA F1 Season Mercedes Nico Rosberg F1 W07 Hybrid
12 2017 FIA F1 Season Mercedes Lewis Hamilton F1 W08 EQ Power+
13 2018 FIA F1 Season Mercedes Lewis Hamilton F1 W09 EQ Power+
14 2019 FIA F1 Season Mercedes Lewis Hamilton F1 W10 EQ Power+

 

Adrian Newey F1 World Championships

No. Season Constructors’ Champion Drivers’ Champion Car
1 1992 FIA Formula One season Williams Nigel Mansell FW14B
2 1993 FIA Formula One season Williams Alain Prost FW15C
3 1994 FIA Formula One season Williams FW16
4 1996 FIA Formula One season Williams Damon Hill FW18
5 1997 FIA Formula One season Williams Jacques Villeneuve FW19
6 1998 FIA Formula One season McLaren Mika Häkkinen MP4/13
7 1999 FIA Formula One season Mika Häkkinen MP4/14
8 2010 FIA Formula One season Red Bull Racing Sebastian Vettel RB6
9 2011 FIA Formula One season Red Bull Racing Sebastian Vettel RB7
10 2012 FIA Formula One season Red Bull Racing Sebastian Vettel RB8
11 2013 FIA Formula One season Red Bull Racing Sebastian Vettel RB9
12 2021 FIA Formula One season Max Verstappen RB16B
13 2022 FIA Formula One season Red Bull Racing Max Verstappen RB18

 

Mark C. reporting for AutoRacing1.com