Fernando Alonso believes Adrian Newey can help turn Aston Martin into the F1 "team of the future", calling the 65-year-old an "inspiration" after he made others "raise the bar" in order to compete.
Fernando Alonso has said witnessing Adrian Newey's success in F1 was an "inspiration" as a rival to the new Aston Martin managing technical partner.
The 65-year-old will join the Silverstone squad in early 2025 upon leaving Red Bull, and the Spanish driver believes he can help transform the outfit into the "team of the future" in F1.
Alonso spoke glowingly of Newey when the British designer was officially confirmed, saying the rest of the series had to "raise the bar" in order to remain competitive with him.
The two F1 greats have fought against each other for over two decades, with Newey pointing out that Alonso was an "arch enemy" at times.
The Aston Martin driver beat Newey's McLaren to both F1 titles in 2005 when he was still with Renault, but the latter enjoyed the upper hand over the former during the early 2010s, when they were at Ferrari and Red Bull, respectively.
"[We've] been racing against each other for many years," Alonso said. "I would say that it was more an inspiration.
"Thanks to Adrian and his talent and cars, I think we all got better, as a driver, as engineers, teams - we all had to raise the bar, thanks to him, to be able to compete.
"It's an incredible day for the team, Lawrence's [Stroll] vision is taking shape with this building, with Adrian, with Honda... new wind tunnel, so definitely the team of the future, I would say.
"For me, is going to be an incredible opportunity, professionally, to work with Adrian and to keep wearing this green colour, which I'm very proud to be part of."
