Aston Martin have confirmed the arrival of Formula 1 engineering genius Adrian Newey.
The F1 car design guru will begin working at the team’s Silverstone base on 1st March 2025.
Speaking at today’s media launch, Newey was asked what had drawn him to Aston Martin. His answer was to the point: “Lawrence [Stroll].”
Team owner Stroll, whose son Lance races for Aston Martin along two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, has made no secret of the fact that he is trying to build a championship-winning outfit since he took over in 2020.
Newey continued: “I felt as if I needed a new challenge. Towards the end of April, I decided I needed to do something different.
“Lawrence and I have known each other on and off for a number of years. As I announced to everybody that I would be departing the old team, I was very flattered to have a lot of approaches from various teams, but Lawrence’s passion, commitment and enthusiasm is very endearing and persuasive.
“In the modern era, Lawrence is unique in being the only properly active team owner and that does bring a different feeling. It became a very natural choice.”
The “old team” about which Newey speaks is Red Bull Racing, for whom he has designed F1 cars since 2006. He has helped the team to seven drivers’ titles and six constructors’ titles.
In May this year, he ceased his involvement in Red Bull’s F1 project and shifted his focus to developing the RB17 hypercar. He will officially leave the team completely in the first quarter of 2025.
At Aston Martin, Newey will earn a reported £30 million a year, a salary higher than all but three of Formula 1’s current drivers and making him one of Britain’s highest-paid sporting figures. He will also become a shareholder and a partner of the team.
Despite the high price for his signature, which is arguably the most coveted in F1, Stroll said: “Adrian is a bargain. It’s not an investment – he’s a shareholder and a partner. We intend to be around here a very long time together, so it’s relatively inexpensive for everything Adrian brings to the partnership we will have.”
In total, he has designed cars for four separate teams, winning 12 constructors’ championships and 13 drivers’ championships.
Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkkinen, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have all become world champions in Newey-designed machinery.
Newey first entered Formula 1 aged 27 with the Haas Lola team in 1986, and in 1987 worked briefly as Mario Andretti’s race engineer at the newly-formed Newman-Haas outfit.
In 1988, he returned to March, a team for whom he had previously worked in IndyCar. However, on this occasion he assumed the role as the team’s chief designer in Formula 1.
Over three years March, which became Leyton House Racing in 1990, consistently punched above its weight, recording two second-placed and two third-placed finishes. Newey then switched to Williams for 1991, when his era of success in the sport began.
Newey claimed his first two F1 championships in 1992. Williams took both the drivers’ and constructors’ crowns, with Nigel Mansell accumulating almost twice as many points as championship runner-up and Williams teammate Ricardo Patrese. In total, the team won 10 of the 16 Grand Prix that season (Mansell 9, Patrese 1).
After three further constructors’ and two further drivers’ championships, Newey moved to McLaren ahead of the 1997 season. There he helped the team to the 1998 constructors’ championship and Mika Hakkinen to back-to-back drivers’ titles in 1998 and ‘99. Meanwhile, the 1997 Williams, which Newey had designed prior to being placed on gardening leave by the team, won both championships that year.
Newey remained with McLaren until 2005, winning no further titles, and switched to Red Bull Racing for 2006, ahead of just their second year in the sport. He helped the team to move up the grid and claim their first victory in 2009, recording a 1-2 finish in China courtesy of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.
Four consecutive championships for Red Bull and Vettel followed until 2013, followed by an unprecedented seven-year era of dominance for Mercedes, who claimed all seven drivers’ and constructors’ championships until 2020.
After several years of playing catch-up, and consistently fighting with Ferrari as the second-quickest team, Newey once again delivered a car capable of fighting for championships. Max Verstappen ended Newey and Red Bull’s championship drought, becoming the World Drivers’ Champion following a controversial final-lap pass on Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Successive teams’ and drivers’ titles followed in dominant fashion in 2022 and 2023. Max Verstappen’s win at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix marked Red Bull’s 100th victory in Formula 1, and Newey’s 200th. At last year’s Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen broke the record for most consecutive victories by a single driver (10), while Red Bull recorded the most ever consecutive victories by a constructor (15).
Red Bull and Verstappen also continue to lead their respective championships after 16 rounds of the 2024 season, although slipped to having arguably the fourth fastest car at the previous race in Monza, leaving both championships in the balance.
The team won four of the first six races of this season, which came before Newey stepped back from the team’s Formula 1 project. They have won just three of the ten races since.
It remains unclear to what extent Red Bull’s obvious loss will be Aston Martin’s gain. Newey has around 18 months to develop his new team’s 2026 contender, which marks the start of a new era of Formula 1.
The current set of regulations, an era which his former employers have dominated so much, arguably better suit his qualities as an aerodynamicist. However, a record of 25 championships speaks for itself, and Stroll and Aston Martin are assembling all the tools to add a 26th.
Cover image credit: Aston Martin; video credit: Aston Martin
Peter Johnson - Journalism 
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