Red Bull Racings Chief Technical Officer visits Spa-Francorchamps
Red Bull Racings Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey has hailed the FIA Formula Two Championship after taking a tour of the series operation at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend (27/28 June).
Newey was competing in the Britcar Spa Euro Race at the legendary F1 circuit, but took time away from his racing schedule to enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of the F2 setup from MotorSport Visions Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer.
Adrian Newey said: "I was impressed with what I saw in Formula Two – it seems to satisfy the criteria we set as a Formula One team. When we are developing a car we are looking to develop a driver’s ability to describe what the car is doing. The key thing is that drivers are able to work with engineers and give good feedback; if they’re going to become F1 drivers then understanding what the car does and how to describe that to your race engineer is absolutely key. From what I saw, Formula Two is a great way to develop young drivers."
With three Red Bull drivers competing in Formula Two in 2009, Newey also claimed that F2 is a series they will be monitoring over the course of the season.
Newey added: "Obviously if one of the Red Bull guys dominates in the championship then we would probably give them a test drive in Formula One. It is fantastic to have a senior level category with this kind of budget – it’s a great alternative to series like GP2, where it can be so difficult to raise the budget. Having the cars produced to an exact equal standard is also a good way of finding out just how good the young drivers are. I think Jonathan Palmer has come up with a great series."