JohnsonsEvilTwin wrote:Newey had a thing for making Merc's V10 go POP, somthing to do with cooling and packaging of his rear-ends.
To be honest, I think this view of Newey is a little overrated and put about by people a little scared of what he is asking. When you hear him speak he is acutely aware of the line of sacrificing peformance for some reliability, but he expects there to eventually be a payoff as hard work is put in and things are understood. Now that he's at Red Bull and has free reign his cars have certainly had more than their fair share of suspicious engine related issues, but by and large they seem to have got on top of things as time has gone on. Other teams might have brilliant reliability, but I'm sure they would love to be where Red Bull are.
He's long had run-ins with other engineers and engine manufacturers as they complain to him about cooling issues and drag as a result of the downforce he finds. His standard response seem to be to ask everyone else what they're doing and to ask engine manufacturers what they're doing about horsepower when they complain about drag.
At Williams and McLaren I think other engineers simply got scared off with what he was asking. The MP4/18 is a well known classic, but after Ferrari and 2002 McLaren simply had to do something. Yes, the 18 might well have involved some initial pain but if the 19B was anything to go by that pain might have paid off far earlier and the 2004 season might no have panned out the way it did.
I remember Haug and Ilien saying the engines were doing GP distances +100kms on the dyno...
Doesn't tell us much. Anything will work well when on a dyno.
...as it seems Ferrari are the most reliable team over the last decade.
Clearly they don't think that's enough. I couldn't see him fitting in at Maranello though. The politics would be something that would give him a headache.
