Stu wrote: ↑26 Jan 2022, 14:48
At the root of all of this is a perception of history, Adrian Newey is usually named as he is (probably) the last of the generation of Chief Designers that did do the full car layout/schematic;
Did he? When? I guess the March 881. Newey did have success with March in Indy and IMSA too, of course. No idea how much he designed and how much others helped - back then the designers and senior engineers weren't the stars they can be today.
After the 881, the 891 wasn't really any good, the 901 slightly better but still Newey was fired. Then he went to Williams and worked under Patrick Head. Head will have had involvement in the designs back then so any "Newey" car will have been a "Head" car too, to some degree (we're back to the team aspect of F1 again already).
The thing is that back in the mid/late 80s, the cars and the aero knowledge was simple enough that one or two people could design them. No way that can happen today and achieve success.
It is interesting to look at the FW14 and compare it to the March 881/891/901. You can see a family resemblance.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.