‘I’d be really happy if he comes to us’ – Krack reckons Aston Martin are ‘in the hunt’ to sign Newey

Aston Martin feel they are “in the hunt” to sign outgoing Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey to their organisation, with Team Principal Mike Krack explaining that “we are all pushing” to get him on board.

It remains to be seen what Newey will do next after May’s announcement that the F1 design legend is to leave Red Bull in early 2025 – his name unsurprisingly being linked to teams up and down the grid since then.

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In recent weeks, rumours have swirled around a potential move to Aston Martin and, at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Krack tackled the topic directly when speaking to media in the paddock.

Asked about Newey – and how hard Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll is trying to sign him – in an interview with F1 TV, Krack said: “I think we are all pushing, but I think the same is true for all the other competitors. Everybody’s trying to have someone of this calibre in [their] team.

“I think we are in the hunt with other teams. I read last week there was another team coming into the game with Alpine, and this is all part of the rumour mill, but I would be really happy if he would come to us in the end.”

Quizzed on the same topic in the Team Principals’ press conference, Krack added: “I can only repeat what we have said. We are becoming a more and more attractive team. We have great infrastructure developing, so again, we are honoured to be put together with that name.”

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“I think F1 these days is so broad,” he continued, when pushed on where Newey would potentially fit in, given that Aston Martin already have a Technical Director in former Red Bull man Dan Fallows and an incoming Chief Technical Officer in Enrico Cardile from Ferrari.

“It is not like you have to make huge changes. I think there was a time where there was a team that had seven Technical Directors in the past, so I think we are very far from that.

“I think [with] someone like that [Newey], you have to make any kind of effort to integrate and adjust your structure to get the best out of it.”

Having previously competed in F1 in the late-1950s and early-1960s, Aston Martin are contesting their fourth season since returning to the sport as a manufacturer team, placing seventh in the standings in 2021 and 2022, and rising to fifth in 2023 via eighth podium finishes.

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Hopes of mixing it with Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes at the front of the field in 2024 have so far failed to materialise, with the squad sitting a distant P5 in the constructors’ battle and yet to record a rostrum result.

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