However, Newey also admitted last weekend that he was keen for a new challenge
in the not-too-distant future.
“I’m 54 and there are lots of other things I would like to be involved in,”
Newey said. “So at some stage, I’m not exactly sure when, I do feel it will
be time to become involved in other things. The America’s Cup, who knows?”
“He [Newey] would be amazing,” Ainslie told the Chris Evans show on Radio 2
during the week. “We deal with water, obviously, for sailing, so it’s [a
combination of] aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. But much more so
aerodynamics now with the wing technology that has come in. So it would be
that kind of design experience which would be crucial.”
Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen’s turbulent week continued after the Finn was
excluded from Saturday’s qualifying session when his car was found not to
comply with the front floor deflection test.
The Lotus driver, who skipped his Thursday media sessions before threatening
to boycott this year’s remaining races after a pay dispute with his team,
will be allowed to start from the back of the grid. He had taken fifth spot.
Mark Webber boosted his chances of gaining what would be a hugely popular
victory before he quits Formula One for sports car racing next year, pipping
his Red Bull team-mate and new four-time world champion Sebastian
Vettel to pole by 12 hundredths of a second beneath the floodlights
of the Yas Marina Circuit.
Webber’s relationship with Red Bull has become strained at times during the
last few years; what he perceives as blatant favouritism towards four-time
world champion Sebastian Vettel causing regular flare-ups.
For all the rancour and tension, however, a 10th career win for the popular,
straight-talking Webber on Sunday would go down extremely well with Red Bull
and fans alike.
Vettel is probably still the marginal favourite, though. The German made a
mistake on his final qualifying lap, into turn one – later apologising to
his team over the radio – and still only missed out by a fraction of a
second.
The Mercedes cars of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will start third and
fourth on the grid respectively, Hamilton spinning off during his final
qualifying lap with a wishbone failure.