Newey move to Aston Martin set to break the internet on Tuesday

Sunday, 08 September 2024 at 10:50

Several credible sources are reporting that Adrian Newey will ignore an offer to join Ferrari; instead, he will be confirmed this week as the new technical boss at Aston Martin—expected news that will nevertheless jolt the Formula 1 world.

Word is Ferrari pulled out of a big bucks tug-of-war for Formula 1's greatest and most winning designer. The minute his departure from Red Bull was confirmed, 65-year-old Newey was immediately coveted by every other team. Aston Martin appears to have won the 'auction' for his services.

A deal to Maranello appeared to have been agreed. But over the summer that went cold, but now it emerges that Lawrence Stroll is raiding his substantial piggybank to seal the deal.

BBC, quoting a team insider, trumpets in the headline: "Newey commits to £30m-a-year Aston Martin deal." That equates to $40-Million per season to design fast, F1-winning cars.

And boy, he has many of those! His records show that Newey cars have won 12 F1 Drivers’ Championships and 13 F1 Constructors’ Titles with Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull Racing.

Newey was instrumental in turning Dietrich Mateschitz's dream into one of the great F1 organisations of this century. His departure brings to an end a two-decade era at Red Bull.

Aston Martin set to announce the Formula 1 coup of the century?

Alonso: Happy I’m driving in a time Newey is building F1 cars

BBC report: "The deal will be announced at a news conference organised by Aston Martin at their F1 base at Silverstone on Tuesday. Newey, who in April negotiated an early exit from his contract as Red Bull chief technical officer, will start work in early March [2025].

"The deal he negotiated to leave Red Bull, to whom he had been under contract until the end of 2025, frees him to join another team in time to have a significant impact on the design they produce for 2026.

"F1 rules forbid teams from starting design work on the aerodynamics of their 2026 before the start of next year. Newey will be the design lead for a team who have invested heavily in engineering talent in recent years," adds the BBC report.

Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll (real-time worth $3.9 billion according to Forbes) continues to build his dream F1 team. Already former Mercedes engine man Andy Cowell is on board. As are Newey's former Red Bull colleague Dan Fallows, plus Ferrari chassis doyen Enrico Cardile.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll must be rubbing their hands in glee as the F1's greatest designer arrives at the state-of-the-art AMR HQ at Silverstone. The hope is he will turn Aston Martin's underperforming creations into GP and F1 title-winning cars as he did for Red Bull, McLaren, and Williams.