Adrian Newey talks about Ayrton Senna’s death

Imagine you designed the car in which Ayrton Senna was killed; it would be a heavy burden to carry. And so it has proven for Adrian Newey, Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull Racing and former design guru with Williams F1.

Newey’s creations have won 119 races, seven constructors’ titles and crowned six world champions. They are astounding achievements. On current form it looks likely that two new additions will be added at the end of the 2011 F1 season.

The death of Ayrton Senna continues to haunt Newey, however. In a recent article with The Guardian Newey said he is unlikely to watch the Senna documentary because, “It would not be an easy thing to do.”

Speaking candidly Newey revealed how the death of Senna and subsequent manslaughter charges brought against himself and Patrick Head made both men question their involvement in Formula One.

Newey explains, “It was dreadful. Both Patrick Head and myself separately asked ourselves whether we wanted to continue in racing. Did we want to be involved in a sport where people can die in something we’ve created?

“Secondly, was the accident caused by something that broke through poor or negligent design? And then the court case started.”

Discussing the likely cause of the accident, Newey continued, “The honest truth is that no one will ever know exactly what happened. There’s no doubt that the steering column failed and the big question was whether it failed in the accident or did it cause the accident? It had fatigue cracks in it and it would have failed at some point. There is no question that its design was very poor. However, all the evidence suggests the car did not go off the track as a result of steering column failure.”

The interview is a must read for any F1 fan and Newey also goes into detail about his current role with Red Bull Racing. Follow the source link for more.

[Source: The Guardian | Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images; Williams/LAT | Thanks to Stu for the tip]