Adrian Newey has confirmed Ferrari was an option, but the Aston Martin deal on offer and Lawrence Stroll himself were pivotal draws.
After months of speculation, the F1 return of design guru Adrian Newey is confirmed. As of March 1, 2025, he will join Aston Martin on a long-term deal, taking on the newly-created Managing Technical Partner role. He also becomes a shareholder of the team.
Adrian Newey confirms Ferrari ‘consideration’ but chose Aston Martin
It was not long after Newey’s impending Red Bull exit was confirmed that talk began to bubble up over where he could next pop up on the F1 grid, with Ferrari emerging as the early favourites before Aston Martin took over that tag and sealed the deal.
That makes it four attempts without success for Ferrari to recruit Newey, and while the iconic team were a part of Newey’s thoughts, Aston Martin was where he signed on the dotted line, citing reasons such as the shareholding offer and team owner Lawrence Stroll being a throwback to the past generation due to him being actively involved with operations.
“So once after a couple of months, decided yes, we’d like to stay in Formula 1, and Ferrari was for sure one of the considerations,” Newey told Sky Sports News.
“I’ve made no secret of the fact that I wanted to work with Fernando [Alonso] and I wanted to work with Lewis [Hamilton]. And since they’re in different teams, I couldn’t fulfill both!
“But, I think for various reasons, particularly Lawrence’s sort of offer of shareholding and partnership and his commitment, and the fact that he is the only one of that old model of team owners, where you have an active team owner, like Frank Williams or Ron Dennis or Eddie Jordan.
“That was the model 20 years ago. Lawrence is the only one who is that model now.”
All you need to know as Adrian Newey signs with Aston Martin
Asked to explain how his relationship with Stroll has evolved as he has got to know Aston Martin’s multi-billionaire boss, Newey said that Stroll can come across as “bombastic”, but in time it becomes clear this is a misunderstanding of his enthusiasm and commitment.
“I think ultimately, it’s all about trust, of course,” said Newey.
“Yes, Lawrence has a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, and he can be quite, dare I say it, bombastic.
“But once you get to know him, it’s just passion and enthusiasm and commitment. And so often, when you meet somebody the first time, you might not get the right impression, but I think he’s super impressive.
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