Aston Martin’s announcement today that Adrian Newey will take charge of their Formula 1 car design project next year is the culmination of a three-year-long pursuit by CEO Lawrence Stroll.
He first approached Newey in 2021. At that time Red Bull’s chief technology officer was enjoying being back at the sharp edge of competition, and his RB16B delivered the first championship for one of his drivers in eight years.Newey was also producing the concept for Red Bull’s first car for the incoming 2022 regulations overhaul. It soon transpired he had laid the groundwork for one of the most successful periods for any team in F1 history.
Meanwhile Stroll pressed ahead with his plans for Aston Martin. In September 2021 they began work on their new, state-of-the-art factory, which the team moved into last year.
Stroll was determined no one would beat him to Newey’s signature. “The most recent talks in earnest began after I read Adrian’s news of his departure,” he said.
“Once I read that I said, well, again, I believe this is meant to be. I believe Adrian will share my vision. He’s a super-smart guy.”
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Newey toured the Aston Martin factory in June. Stroll believes the impression made by their upgraded facilities was a “huge” factor in persuading Newey to join them.
“We certainly couldn’t have been a championship team with our old tool, that we know. So this had to be built to show our intent, our ambition and to win. So getting Adrian here, I think, was critically important.”
Newey has had negative experiences of teams building new facilities before. In the early noughties, when he was technical director at McLaren, he was frustrated by the changes within the team which came along with their move into the McLaren Technology Centre, and left to join Red Bull in 2005.
However he praised the work done on the new facilities by Stroll and outgoing Aston Martin Group CEO Martin Whitmarsh, whom he worked with at McLaren.
“What Lawrence and Martin have built here, these facilities are just stunning,” he said. “It’s not an easy thing to do to build a brand new factory in a greenfield site and have it have a really nice, warm, creative feel to it. Because after all, that’s what we’re here for, to try to be creative and come up with good solutions and particularly with good communication between everybody that works here.
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“I’ve seen some new buildings that haven’t quite fulfilled that but this one has a great feel. The proportions are right, it has all the facilities.”
More importantly, the scale of Aston Martin’s investment convinced Newey that they are serious about becoming championship contenders.
“The combination of seeing all the facilities, how nice they feel and how well thought-out the building is, [is] perhaps most of all a very visual demonstration of Lawrence, actually,” said Newey.
“If I had to describe Lawrence in one sentence, one of the things that I always think is he has total belief. He has a direction and he’s happy to pull his chips on black. And that’s what he’s doing here.”
Other factors fell into place conveniently for Aston Martin, above all their move from being a Mercedes power unit customer to having an exclusive works deal with Honda. Newey rates the manufacturer, who replaced Renault as Red Bull’s power unit supplier in 2019 after he had grown frustrated with their predecessor’s failure to produce a sufficiently competitive engine.
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Red Bull would likely not have split from Honda in the first place had they not announced in 2020 their intention to leave F1. By the time they had decided to return, Red Bull had already committed to the huge expense of building their own power units.
“I’ll be very pleased to stay working with Honda,” said Newey. “I’ve really enjoyed working with them over the last six years at Red Bull. They’re a great bunch of engineers, very easy to work with.”
Aston Martin wasn’t the only team chasing Newey. At one stage Ferrari was considered the favourite to sign him, having tried to do so on three previous occasions without success. But Stroll made a clear impression on the star designer.
“I was very flattered to have a lot of approaches from various teams,” said Newey. “But really Lawrence’s passion and commitment and enthusiasm is very endearing. It is very persuasive.
“The reality is, if you go back 20 years then what we now call team principals were actually the owners of the teams – Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan, et cetera. In this modern era Lawrence is actually unique in being the only properly active team owner.
“That does bring a different feeling when you have somebody like Lawrence involved like that. It’s back to the old-school model.”
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The final element in securing Newey was a significant sweetener: The opportunity to become a shareholder in the team. That was something none of the others chasing his signature were seemingly prepared to offer.
“To have the chance to be a shareholder and a partner is something that hasn’t been offered to me before. So it’s a slightly different slant. It’s one I’m very much looking forward to. It became a very natural choice.”
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RandomMallard
10th September 2024, 15:12
Newey makes a very interesting point about team owners and their involvement in the teams, and it’s not something I’d really considered before. He’s kind of right though, Stroll does seem to be pretty much the most involved team owner of all of them (apart from Wolff if you count his 33% stake in Mercedes), in quite a significant difference from other eras where people like Williams, Dennis and Jordan were heavily involved in their teams.
notagrumpyfan
10th September 2024, 16:59
Interestingly Wolff owns more of Mercedes F1 team (33%) than Stroll of Aston Martin F1 team (23%).
And I’m not sure if Lawrence Stroll gets more involved in the team than Gene Haas :P
RandomMallard
10th September 2024, 22:43
At least Lawrence makes somewhat useful contributions to his team. Gene just seems to act as a hindrance a lot of the time…
Jay
11th September 2024, 2:40
His best move was to fire Steiner, and I actually liked him.
Drop Saudi
10th September 2024, 15:50
The cost cap allows 3 guys to be excluded, it makes sense to get Newey as one of those guys, it’s like a loophole. He can make 2 cars fast, while a Hamilton or Verstappen can only make one car fast, Ferrari should have paid whatever he cost.
anon
10th September 2024, 16:41
That assumes that he wanted to sign a deal with Ferrari in the first place, and there’s some doubt whether he wanted to strike a deal.
We know that Newey was not keen on leaving the UK in the past, and he apparently rejected previous offers from Ferrari in part because of a desire to remain in the UK for family reasons. There are some hints that they might have had some initial talks, but Newey seems to have been reluctant to enter into further discussions because he was still reluctant to relocate outside of the UK.
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 3:56
I agree with Drop Saudi (the name too) and you as well anon. If $ or Newey’s staffing demands really were the determining factor, I can only see it as a really dumb decision. Maybe they were still cocky from their early season performance and thought they knew what they were doing now.
However, as anon implies, a large bit of me wonders if Newey even wanted to go to Ferrari in the first place. If he did, I’m sure some patient negotiations could have got him through the door. HOWEVER, he was never going to be given a stake in the team + the veto level of authority he has been given at Aston, which is something he’s wanted his ENTIRE career and never gotten. It’s why he left Williams and McLaren and when he didn’t have the level of authority to quash the beef at RBR, it’s basically what led him to leave it.
notagrumpyfan
10th September 2024, 17:03
AFAIK de drivers are not included in the team’s top three executive who’s salaries are excluded from the cost cap.
The drivers’ payment packages are also excluded, but that’s on top of that.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 23:08
notagrumpyfan, it’s the top 3 staff at a team, regardless of job title. It was originally contemplated to be 2 drivers and 1 key staff member, be that a boss or the chief designer, but if one of the drivers is inexpensive (I can imagine Lance Stroll not being the most expensive F1 driver to hire for Aston Martin), then 2 staff can be exempted instead of one. Even 3 senior non-driver staff, if both drivers happen to be cheap.
DMC
10th September 2024, 16:08
I Think its fantastic! Having Newey
Could potentially put a great British sports car brand at the front in F1.
Asd
10th September 2024, 18:23
McLaren already is a British sports car brand at the front of F1.
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 3:58
It’s a Ronican brand.
AlexS
12th September 2024, 19:25
Bahraini brand…
Is Aston Martin Canadian brand ?
:)))
David
10th September 2024, 17:34
Impressed once again by Lawrence’s commitment to invest big bucks in the team’s success.
The car has been the weak point to date – especially mid-season development. You would expect Newry to solve that.
SteveP
10th September 2024, 18:26
He would need to have someone working under him that he knows well and trusts to follow through.
Any names pop to mind? Clue: DF
Anyone reckon they can make the car good enough to have Stroll in the points every week? Or is that asking too much?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th September 2024, 23:35
Ahah, that’s a good point because of stroll’s bad start of 2023, even though the car was pretty good!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th September 2024, 23:36
And given perez’s performance midway into 2023, I’d say for some drivers no car guarantees consistent point finishes.
Gary
10th September 2024, 18:38
Adrian will realise he’s made a mistake not going to Ferrari, at the end of October, when Rachel Reeves announces new top UK income tax rate of 65%.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
11th September 2024, 0:44
Don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but a 20% increase in the top rate of income tax will never happen. Also, it is likely the even if his main source of income was an Italian salary, he would remain UK resident for tax purposes, in which case he would still get taxed at that 65% rate in the UK and just get relief for the Italian equivalent. Depends on his circumstances and other sources of income.
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 4:02
Cool story, Gar. Now, step inside your Isle of Mann laundromat and use your City of London and Bahamian shell registrations to wipe the tears from your eyes and the BS dribbling down your chin.
hufggfg (@hufggfg)
11th September 2024, 6:21
@Nick T. Genuinely funny and sensible response. COTD right there.
AlexS
12th September 2024, 19:26
As usual hate against rich people is not hate speech for some.
Leo B
10th September 2024, 18:59
Alas, Mr Newey appears not to possess a strong sense of F1 history, choosing money and Aston Martin over Ferrari. But each to their own…
IRONGREG
10th September 2024, 20:37
Newey has earned his respect to chose as such.
Great salary with shares as well as the ability to stay in the UK
New facility, proven power units with Honda, Two world champion driver,
Point is Newey has wisdom and knowledge of F1 history and who knows maybe Verstappen might head over there.
Brilliant move and he is well respected
Maciek (@maciek)
11th September 2024, 3:47
Well, you can either go with history, or you can make history. Worked out kinda well for him at Red Bull.
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 4:03
I’ll trust Newey’s instincts over yours any day, “mate.”
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
11th September 2024, 23:09
Aston Martin has F1 history as well, back in the 1950s and 1960s. (Though there’s a reason you might not have heard about it – the stint was unsuccessful).
AlexS
12th September 2024, 19:29
Aston died. The name was resurrected because it was still recognisable ,a big part of it due to 007 franchise. Without 007 we would probably do not have Aston in F1.
Nico_speed
10th September 2024, 22:15
I think that may setup 2026 season quite nicely. On one hand we might see how much influence Newey really had on Red Bulls success and where they stand without him (at the moment they are coasting on his design and its not heading in a good direction). On the other hand will be the battle of the influence: Dream Driver vs Dream Enginner. Ferrari have on paper one of the strongest diver lineup with Hamilton and Lecler and Aston Martin have a dream team of engineers (and one solid driver, I let you decide whom I mean). So time to see who can make a bigger impact Hamilton or Newey, or will we be surprised and have a solid team of drivers and engineers that are not necessary front page Tabloid material, but are working together well come out on top (looking at you Mclaren). On another note i am glad to publically see an engineer get a recognition and the money similar to drivers. Hopefully that trickles down and curbs the difference between driver and engineer pay.
Nick T,
11th September 2024, 4:05
Even if he’s not successful, his level of influence on the success of the teams he’s worked before is beyond question. Not only did all the teams free fall after he left (McLaren was lucky to have Newey design chassis/concept in 2007 and 2008), but most of the very design elements and features that fans take for granted as being an inherent part of an F1 car were penned by Newey
Aquila_GD
10th September 2024, 22:32
Well..
It would be slendid to drive the first Aston Martin Honda Vantage
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
11th September 2024, 4:01
Being offered a share of the team was a brilliant sweetener—and win-win. Newey gets something of high value, which he can play a direct part in increasing the value of his share.
For Stroll, he now gets Newey’s full dedication and focus because now Newey has skin in the game. Newey has a tendency to get a little bored—but I think the combination of new project and skin-in-the-game is a great one-two punch for locking in his focus likely for the remainder of his career.
Nick T.
11th September 2024, 4:07
Yes. And Newey has said this will be full time. Not his sort of free floating, work as much or as little as he wants. He also has full authority to fire or hire anyone within the technical staff.
Señor Sjon
11th September 2024, 9:30
Well, when Dieter died, the old structure at Red Bull died. The ownership/direction of the Red Bull team has become more opaque now and I think that is also part of why he felt right at home at Aston Martin.