In Formula 1 folklore the loudest engines and fattest horsepower figures often dominate the headlines, but the trophies usually go home with the teams that play a subtler game. Look back at Mauro Forghieri’s Ferraris of the 1970s: he would happily give up a little horsepower if it meant shaving weight from the crankcase or dropping the centre of gravity a centimetre. The result was a car that danced through corners while heavier rivals slid wide. Fast-forward a couple of decades and Adrian Newey was doing something similar. He’d squeeze radiators tighter than anyone thought wise, or shrink an air-box to reclaim space for cleaner airflow, because he understood that lap time isn’t the sum of isolated maximums; it’s the product of everything working together. Read more
