‘We intend to be around here a very long time together’
However, the move failed to materialise, with Newey’s wages and a lack of enthusiasm for moving to Italy both said to be a factor. McLaren also weighed up a move, while Williams admitted they were keen to bring him back to Grove. Signing someone of the calibre of Newey is not a simple thing, however. Although the salaries of any team’s top three employees are excluded from F1′s new budget cap (as well as driver salaries), Newey’s arrival would push someone else outside the cap and risk destabilising a team.
In the end, a private tour of Aston Martin’s brand-new AMR Technology Campus and wind tunnel in June proved decisive, as was Stroll’s willingness to bankroll a move which is expected to net Newey upwards of £100 million. The English designer is understood to have signed a five-year deal worth around £20 million a season, possibly rising to £30 million after performance add-ons.
Stroll described that as a great deal. “I can tell you, Adrian is a bargain,” insisted the Canadian, who is perennially portrayed as a brooding Bond villain in the Netflix Formula One Drive to Survive series. “I’ve been in business for over 40 years now, and I’ve never been more certain. It’s not an investment – he’s a shareholder and a partner, so it’s the best partner you can bring into a company. We intend to be around here a very long time together, so it’s relatively inexpensive for everything Adrian brings to the partnership we work on.”
Newey, for his part, said he was impressed by Stroll’s ambition and insisted Aston Martin had everything they needed now to be a championship-winning team. “I am very much looking forward to helping them reach that goal,” he said.
Newey must wait a few months before he can start, given the terms of his departure from Red Bull. Although many in the paddock are confused as to how exactly we have reached a stage where he is being unveiled by one team while simultaneously working for another.
Newey had been contracted to Red Bull until 2025, with the team at one stage suggesting, after rumours first surfaced in April that he wished to quit, that he would be unavailable to any potential rival until at least 12 months after that, given the gardening leave that would inevitably be tacked on. Somehow, Newey’s manager Eddie Jordan – who was also in attendance at Aston Martin on Tuesday alongside Newey’s wife Amanda – managed to negotiate not only an early release but also an unveiling behind enemy lines six months before he becomes available. Newey is understood to have been in the Red Bull factory in Milton Keynes this week and remains working on the RB17 hypercar project.
One thing which has been clarified is Newey’s role at Aston Martin, which will be solely focused on F1, a contrast to his previous role at Red Bull where he also worked on other projects.
Newey did baulk at the suggestion from one reporter that he only worked a “three-day week” at Milton Keynes. “I don’t know where that came from,” he said. But he is believed to have been on a 150-day a year contract at Red Bull.
Either way, after a break over the winter, Newey said he would be fully dedicated to F1 once more.
“Once I start I will be fully in,” he said. “I need to be, I have to be. This is something different. It is that fresh challenge, new stimulation.”
Aston Martin drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso both paid tribute to Newey, with the Spaniard describing Newey as an “inspiration” to him during his career.
“It’s an incredible day for the team,” Alonso said. “Lawrence’s vision is taking shape. We are definitely the team of the future I would say.”
Lawrence Stroll smiled at this description. “There have been many pieces,” Aston Martin’s owner said when asked whether Newey was the “final piece” of the puzzle. “The senior management team. We brought in Aramco. Honda as an exclusive engine partner. But Adrian is key and the biggest part of the puzzle.”
