![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/73\/590x\/secondary\/Adrian-Newey-5081686.jpg?r=1700752889829\")
<\/p>\nIn keeping with the British love of a gallant runner-up the two favourites to take the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award did not actually win anything in 2023. Mary Earps, penalty-saving goalkeeper in the Lionesses\u2019 World Cup final defeat, is battling it out in the bookies\u2019 eyes with Stuart Broad, England\u2019s leading wicket-taker in the drawn Ashes series.<\/p>\n
What happened to winning? If you are after domination on a scale rarely seen in any sport, the individual lifting the trophy should be Adrian Newey. If a Red Bull wins this weekend in the concluding race of the season, the RB19 – Newey\u2019s baby – will have won 21 out of the 22 races which will be breaking new ground in F1 ascendancy. While Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost\u2019s McLaren MP4\/4 also lost only one race in 1988 that was in a 16-race season.<\/p>\n
Newey would hate the recognition of course – Red Bull\u2019s chief technical officer is attracted to the limelight in the same way as Count Dracula is to the midday sun – but his genius has turned Formula One into a procession this season. It might have been from the shadows but in terms of impact, no British sporting figure can match him in 2023.<\/p>\n
On the Sunday evening of the opening grand prix of the season in Bahrain won by Max Verstappen, George Russell announced the championship was already over. He was right. Verstappen has been extraordinary, of course, and is the best driver in Formula One. But he wouldn\u2019t have won the drivers\u2019 title in the Ferrari or the Mercedes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He is riding a magic carpet. In an era when aerodynamics are so important, Red Bull have the master of the art in Newey. To label him a visionary is to undersell him. He literally can see things others can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
In a rare interview this week with BBC Sport he matter-of-factly admitted to being able to picture the airflow pattern under an F1 car. It is a sixth sense born out of his genes – he is a mix of a scientific father and an artistic mother – but it is also a product of experience.<\/p>\n
Don’t miss… <\/strong>
Lewis Hamilton has already made feelings clear on Rosberg’s Mercedes comments[LATEST] <\/strong>
Max Verstappen’s \u00a312 million solution to world champion’s brutal F1 schedule[LATEST] <\/strong>
Lewis Hamilton ‘held Red Bull talks’ as F1 chiefs calm terrorist attack fears[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n\n