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.
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