ABSTRACT:THE SPORTING SCENE about Adrian Newey, who designs Formula One race cars, and the possibilities for Formula One in the United States. The most accomplished man in the worlds most glamorous sport stands at a drafting table all day. His name is Adrian Newey, and he is often said to perceive solid objects not by their outlines but by the flow of air currents around them. Neweys sport is Formula One racing, the caviar to NASCARs Cheetos. He is the chief technical officer for Red Bull Racing, Formula Ones premier outfit, and spends most weekdays at a factory in the planned city of Milton Keynes, an hour northwest of London. Not long ago, a manufacturing trade magazine ranked him as the second-greatest corporate designer of our time, after Jonathan Ive, the creator of the iPod and the iPad. Recently, the United States Grand Prix, at the brand-new Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, marked the beginning of a concerted westward push in the sports marketing, after years of expansion to venues like Shanghai and Singapore. A new street course is being planned in Weehawken, New Jersey, which will offer spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline. Formula One, though concentrated historically in Europe and associated with ascots and champagne, is now perhaps the only truly global sports league or circuita legitimate world serieswith Grand Prix races staged in nineteen countries across five continents. The breadth of its television audience is surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup. Among the competitors in 2012 were an Indian-backed team (Sahara Force India) and a Russian-backed team (Marussia), to go with the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes, as well as a Japanese driver (Kamui Kobayashi), a Venezuelan (Pastor Maldonado), a Mexican (Sergio Pérez), and two Finns. All told, thirteen nations were represented among the twenty-five drivers. The best of those drivers are compensated as well as A-Rod and Kobe. Describes the technical aspects of Formula One car design, as well as the tactical decisions made by drivers and their teams. Discusses the business of Formula One. Writer visits the headquarters of Formula One Management, overlooking Londons Hyde Park, and is received there by the so-called F1 Supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, Great Britains fourth-richest man. Ecclestone is five feet three, with a white mop of hair and a perpetual squint, from being nearly blind in his right eye since birth. Last summer, a couple of months before his eighty-second birthday, he was married for the third time, to Fabiana Flosi, a thirty-five-year-old Brazilian who towers over him. (The joke goes that he can look her in the eye when he is standing on his wallet.) His two daughters from his previous wife Slavica, a six-foot-two Croatian who has modelled for Armani, are the Kardashians of England. Describes changes to the Formula One rules which have been made to make the races more interesting: the sports organizers have given trailing cars an artificial boost, like a turbo button in a video game. The technology is called D.R.S.for drag-reduction systemand it enables drivers to maneuver an adjustable flap on their rear wings, adding about a dozen extra miles per hour on straightaways. You can activate it only on certain stretches of each track, when youre within a second of the car in front of you and hoping to slingshot past. Describes Neweys upbringing and career, and the development of his expertise in aerodynamics. Describes Neweys work on the Red Bull X2010, a pure speed-mobile with no restrictions. Discusses Neweys experiences with the great Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna: Newey helped design the car Senna was driving during his fatal crash. In November of 1996, Newey was indicted for manslaughter in connection with Sennas death. A lengthy public trial included expert testimony analyzing the angles of Sennas front wheels and changes in the cars hydraulic pressure, while the broader racing community protested that such quibbling missed the point: of course there was an element of danger, and racecar drivers, like downhill skiers, were well aware of the risks. In 2005, Newey was acquitted. The incident haunted himhe says that what was left of his hair fell out after Sennas deathand he contemplated quitting the sport. Describes how he was recruited to the Red Bull team by Dietrich Mateschitz, the secretive Austrian businessman who had made billions marketing the obscure caffeinated beverage. Describes the scene at the Austin Grand Prix.
