It’s rare for a transfer story to garner this much attention without a driver involved, but Adrian Newey is no ordinary teammate. Having designed a car that has won 13 drivers’ titles and 12 constructors’ titles, Newey was always in high demand when it was confirmed he was leaving Red Bull after 18 years.
But the news came with a question mark: should he go to Ferrari? Or should he give up altogether? It didn’t take long for the latter to drop out of the equation for Newe.
“I decided to go to Red Bull on the Suzuka weekend in April. At the time, I had no idea what was going to happen next,” he said when announcing his move to Aston Martin Racing. “I just wanted to clear my mind, take stock, take a break, and when I was standing in the shower, sparks were flying. [I’d] I thought, ‘This has to be the direction.’ And Mandy (Newey’s wife) was also a big part of the discussion about what we should do. She was worried that if I stayed home too long, I would drive her a little crazy.
“At the end of June, I was like, ‘You know what? It’s been my ambition since I was 10 years old to be a designer in car racing. I’m lucky to be able to do that.’ It might be an exaggeration to say that I’ve enjoyed every single day of my career, but more than 90 percent of it has been incredibly enjoyable. I still love the challenge of adding performance to cars. That’s my main motivation, what I get up for every morning. The amazing thing about technical sports, and by technical sports I mean the combination of man and machine, is that you get immediate feedback on what you’re doing. Sure, it can be painful when you don’t do it well, but you get that feedback.
“And when I compared it to my friends from my aeronautics class at university, they went on to work at British Aerospace, Rolls Royce Engines, and there was no feedback. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I chose to work in this human-machine sport as one of my passions. And if you ask, ‘What is the pinnacle of man and machine?’, it’s definitely Formula 1. Yes, I’m still interested in the America’s Cup, and I’m interested in many other things, but if I’m going to stay in ‘man and machine,’ I have to stay at the pinnacle as long as people want me to.”
Newe said Aston Martin chairman Laurence Stroll was a key factor in his choice of Aston Martin, noting that having a Canadian join the team echoes past team bosses.
“I was very happy to be approached by a lot of different teams, but Lawrence’s passion, dedication and enthusiasm was really lovely and very compelling,” he said. “If you go back 20 years, the people we call team leaders now were actually team owners – Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan. Lawrence is unique in this modern era in that he’s actually the only active team owner.
“And when someone like Lawrence gets involved in that way, it feels different. It’s a return to the old-school modeling. The opportunity to be a shareholder and a partner is something that wasn’t offered to me before. So it’s a little bit of a different perspective, and it’s something I’m very excited about. It’s a very natural fit.”
Stroll has embarked on an impressive rebuilding programme since taking over the former Force India team in 2018, bringing in a host of high-profile riders both on and off the track, as well as building a new factory which will house a new wind tunnel later this year.
“I think what Lawrence and Martin (Whitmarsh, the team’s outgoing group CEO) have built here…these are really amazing facilities,” Newey said. “It’s not easy to build a completely new factory on a new site and give it a really nice, warm, creative feel. At the end of the day, the reason we’re here is to be creative and to come up with good solutions, especially with the good communication we have with everyone who works here.
“I’ve seen a few new buildings that don’t meet that criteria, but this one feels great. The proportions are right, it has all the amenities, and you’re absolutely right. I’m so looking forward to getting started, getting to know everyone here, and going from there.
“The building is obviously incredibly impressive and has a great feel to it. It really shows the commitment and vision of where Lawrence wants to take the team. I don’t know how much it cost, but it won’t be cheap.”
For Stroll, this revitalization was expensive. Newey’s arrival to the revolution didn’t come cheap, either, with his salary reportedly rivaling that of multiple world champion drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. But Stroll has no concerns about the cost.
“I can tell you that Adrian is cheap,” Stroll said. “(I’ve) been in business for over 40 years, and I’m more confident than ever. He’s not an investment, he’s a shareholder and a partner. He’s the best partner I could ever bring into the company. We’re going to be here for a very long time. It’s relatively cheap for everything Adrian brings to the partnership.
“It’s hard to understand, understand or try to explain unless you’ve been to these three great buildings. It’s a huge part of our tools that make us a championship team. We certainly wouldn’t have been a championship team with our old tools.
“This had to be rebuilt to demonstrate our intent, our vision and to win. That’s why I think it was so important to bring Adrian here.”
