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Newey explains why he opted for 'old school' Aston Martin, rather than joining Hamilton in 2025 move to Ferrari
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Adrian Newey has given a revealing insight into why he chose to join Aston Martin for next year, despite having been linked with a move to Ferrari where he could have teamed up with Lewis Hamilton in 2025.
Following the announcement in May that Newey would be departing Red Bull during the first quarter of next year, speculation soon mounted over where the legendary designer’s future may lie.
One of the names most frequently mentioned was that of Ferrari, leaving many fans excited by the idea of Newey working alongside Hamilton for the first time. Indeed, Hamilton himself stated that it would be a “privilege” to work with Newey, comments that the Briton admitted he was “very flattered” by.
However, as the months went by the Ferrari rumours cooled as instead the former Williams and McLaren engineer became more tempted by a switch to Aston Martin.
During a press conference to confirm that he will join Lawrence Stroll's team in 2025 as their Managing Technical Partner, Newey was asked how seriously he had entertained the prospect of signing with Ferrari, as well as being quizzed on why he ultimately plumped for the Silverstone outfit instead.
Hamilton is heading to Ferrari in 2025 – but Newey will not be joining him there
“I think from my part, I was very flattered by the number of teams that did approach me,” Newey explained. “I had discussions with some of those teams, not all of them. In the end, it became a very clear and natural choice, for all the reasons I stated earlier in the conference.”
And in terms of what those reasons were, Newey cited the need for a “new challenge” after mulling over his options for some time.
“Towards the end of April, I decided that I needed to do something different,” the 65-year-old conceded. “I spent a lot of time with Mandy, my wife, kind of discussing what’s next… What do we do? Do we go off and sail around the world? Do I do something different?
“We took a bit of time out. I felt that I’ve been lucky enough to have achieved what I aspired to from the age of 10 or 12, which was simply to be a designer – I didn’t even know the word engineer – in motor racing.
“I can honestly say, everything else has been a bonus, having sort of achieved that straight out of uni. I never, of course, expected anything like what I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with. But you have to be honest with yourself and keep yourself fresh, so I felt I needed a new challenge.
Adrian Newey moves to Aston Martin
“Lawrence [Stroll] and I have known each other off and on over the years, we often bump into each other in the gym, particularly at the Middle East and Far East races.
“As I’ve announced to everybody that I will be departing the old team, I was very flattered to have a lot of approaches from various teams, but really Lawrence’s passion, commitment and enthusiasm was very endearing, it’s very persuasive.
“The reality is, if you go back 20 years, what we now call Team Principals were actually the owners of the teams, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan etcetera. In this modern era, Lawrence is actually unique in being the only properly active team owner.
“It’s a different feeling when you have somebody like Lawrence involved like that, it’s back to the old-school model. And to have the chance to be a shareholder and a partner is something that has never really been, or hasn’t been offered to me before. It’s [an opportunity] I’m very much looking forward to. It became a very natural choice.”
Newey will start work in his new role at Aston Martin on March 1 2025.
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