Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack has joked Fernando Alonso would foot part of the bill for Adrian Newey’s salary such was his desire for the team to bring the design legend onboard.
That, if Alonso’s reported salary of $18 million per season is on the mark, would cost the Spaniard a pretty $3.6 million – but it could be worth it.
Fernando Alonso’s joking $3.6m contribution towards Adrian Newey
Aston Martin announced their biggest coup yet when they revealed Newey as their new Managing Technical Partner, the Briton joining the team in March next year.
It’s a massive signal of intent from the Silverstone team, who won Newey over with a visit to their state-of-the-art factory and new wind tunnel.
According to his manager Eddie Jordan, “total control and responsibility” akin to something like a team principal, sealed the deal while a reported annual salary of $39 million as well as a shareholding sweetened the pot.
It’s no wonder Alonso reportedly joked with the team that he’d foot part of that bill if they could entice Newey to join.
Speaking to the media in Baku, team boss Krack talked up the upcoming Alonso/Newey partnership and even joked about the Spaniard’s behind-the-scenes contribution.
More on Adrian Newey’s move to Aston Martin
“I think it is clear Fernando has a long future in this team,” Krack said. “He was all excited about it on Tuesday when we had the discussions.
“He was even saying that he will pay of his wages to pay Adrian. There was a talk about 10 percent, 20 percent. So I will find out later how much it really is.
“You can really see the huge respect that these two people have for each other. I think they want to achieve something. For Adrian, he always wanted to work with someone like Fernando and vice versa.
“So I think we have to try to get everything in place and also facilitate a good collaboration between these two, between the drivers and Adrian. We know that he comes to races and that is something again, we need to facilitate and try to learn as much as we can from it, being open and flexible.”
Given Alonso earns a reported $18m per season in his current Aston Martin contract, that would set the Spaniard back as much as $3.6m.
But while Krack says “yes, why not” to Alonso sticking around long enough to reach the 500 race mark in Formula 1, the Spaniard fears he may not have enough time on his side to see Newey’s full impact on Aston Martin.
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