Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton both made their admiration clear f🅘or Adrian Newey in recent months.

Red Bull’s outgoing chief technology of🐽ficer will join Aston Martin next year as their managing technical partner and shareholder in a move which has already shaken up Formula 1.

Newey is regarded as F1’s greatest-ever ca𝓰r designer whose presence can significantly boost the teaꦛm which employs him.

But one racing driver did not see the potentia♎l in𒁃 Newey.

Christian Danner is the e♈x-F1 driver who regards himself as the only person in motor racing to reject New🐎ey’s help.

In 1982, with Newey also at a very early point of his own career, when Danner turned 🐻him ♛away.

“I’m the only person in the wor🐈ld of motor racing who ha🥀s ever said I don’t want to work with Adrian Newey, which is kind of a rotten privilege,” Danner told .

“But both Adrian and I are still laughingꩵ about it.

“A guy [Manfred Cassani] came to me and said: ‘I have a BMW M1 Procar💛 and an F2 team, Christian, why don’t you come to me and I’ll make you a Formula 1 driver?’

“I did five or six races with that M1, one practice in an F2 race on the N𝕴urburgring and one hillclimb race in the F2 car.”

Danner was offered a seat in the March-BMW works teamꦑ in 1981.

He continued: “Never having any problems withಌ confidence, I knew that I had no idea about driving single-seaters, so they sent me to Goodwood for a test [and] I was quick.

“The trouble was my team-mates were first and the runner-up in the European Formula 3 championship, Corrado Fabi and Thierry Boutsen; they taught me the lesson that driving a singlﷺe-seater is not all that easy.

“And it took me the 1981 season to get on top of it🐷𒁏.”

Newey was working at March. He was Danner’s race engineer ൩for a single race, at Silverstone. Danner retired after running out of fuel.

Danner’s tank was leaking, he later discovered. But he didn’t wan✱t his young, inexperienced race engineer Ne🐎wey.

So, Danner demanded that Newey be replaced ജby Ralp🐼h Bellamy.

“I didn’t want to work with Newey and I told him: ‘Adrian, you’veꦦ got no experience, I’ve got no experience, this is not going to match’,” he explained.

“He was very unconcentrated. He [once] ꦇforgot to unplug the radio, and he didn’t know wওhat he was doing on fuel consumption.

“He was just a young designer, you know?

“So, I ended up with Ralp🦹h running my car and Adrian ended up with [Johnny] Cecotto. It was Cecotto, myself and [Cཧorrado] Fabi, who eventually won the championship.”

Danner was later on and off the Formula 1 grid for seven seasons. He also 🦩raced in IndyCar, and at th🐎e 24 Hours of Le Mans, among other series.

Newey? He went on to become the mos🎀t revered F1 car designer of all time who, this year, was arguably the most in-demandꦆ individual in the sport.