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Adrian Newey will join Aston Martin's Formula 1 team when he officially leaves Red Bull in early 2025.
F1's most lauded designer has been on the market since his departure from Red Bull was announced in May, with Ferrari initially seen as the frontrunner to sign him.
Those negotiations amounted to nothing though and Aston Martin emerged as a serious contender, giving Newey a private tour of its new Silverstone facility in June, and eventually making a massive offer - reported to be worth up to £30million a year.
Newey has been convinced to join Lawrence Stroll's ambitious project by a combination of that immense financial offer, a shareholding in the team, and the freedom he needs to be at his best in a role defined as 'managing technical partner' - plus the likes of Fernando Alonso and works engine partner Honda being part of the long-term plan.
Aston Martin announced Newey's appointment on Tuesday in the build-up to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but he cannot start working until March 1, 2025.
"Lawrence is determined to create a world-beating team," Newey said. He is the only majority team owner who is actively engaged in the sport.
"His commitment is demonstrated in the development of the new AMR Technology Campus and windtunnel at Silverstone, which are not only state of the art but have a layout that creates a great environment to work in.
"With great partners like Honda and Aramco, they have all the key pieces of infrastructure needed to make Aston Martin a world championship-winning team and I am very much looking forward to helping reach that goal.”
Newey will join what is arguably the most ambitious team in F1, with Stroll enticing other investors including two prominent US funds that Sky News has reported will acquire between 20% and 25% of the F1 team’s holding company.
"As soon as Adrian became available, we knew we had to make it happen," said Lawrence Stroll.
"Our initial conversations confirmed that there was a shared desire to collaborate in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Adrian is a racer and one of the most competitive people I have ever met. When he saw what we have built at Silverstone he quickly understood what we are trying to achieve.
"We mean business – and so does he."
HOW HE FITS IN
Newey's not just unique in his experience and success - he's one-of-a-kind in how he operates in modern F1.
Crucially, Aston Martin was willing to accommodate Newey in a floating role akin to what he had grown into at Red Bull. There, he held a formal job title of chief technology officer but had the freedom to influence the F1 programme at his own discretion.
At Aston Martin, he joins as managing technical partner - a neat solution that allows him to exist alongside the conventional technical hierarchy rather than as part of it.
Introducing our Managing Technical Partner, Adrian Newey. pic.twitter.com/dFlop90SyS
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) September 10, 2024
However, Stroll says that Newey will be working on-site on “day-to-day full-time commitment” - which implies greater involvement than expected and will give him at least some oversight of technical personnel.
Newey suggested that is a consequence of the magnitude of the move and the implication is if he starts full-time and more involved while leading the 2026 car work, he could be slightly more detached again beyond that.
“Moving teams is always a big commitment to understand how everyone works, to engage with them, to be involved in shaping things if necessary,” he said.
“It takes time, it takes commitment. So yes, of course, to start with I’ll be fully in. I need to be.”
In principle, it can and should work, provided Newey is integrated correctly.
Aston Martin has already recruited a plethora of senior technical figures as it builds towards 2026 and the new set of car and engine regulations: Andy Cowell as group CEO, Bob Bell as executive director and Enrico Cardile (above) as chief technical officer to add to the established senior engineers Dan Fallows, who joined from Red Bull as technical director, ex-Mercedes aero chief Eric Blandin, who is Fallows's deputy, engineering director Luca Furbato and performance director Tom McCullough.
But the fact the team has clear senior technical positions filled could be what makes this workable, as it means Newey's part-time approach can be encouraged.
The team doesn't need him to do a conventional job and he won't be forced to do one, which makes it more appealing to join, and can bring the best out of him.
THE RISKS INVOLVED
On paper, at least, everything has been done right in building up this team. Newey should be the cherry on top, that dash of magic and creativity that helps everything coalesce and make Aston Martin a championship-winning force.
And given how sharp and shrewd an operator Newey is, it would be a surprise - and a disappointment - if he'd be willing to commit his future to an organisation that wasn't able to match up to his ambitions.
Whether it will work remains a huge question mark and can only be answered with time.
It is a major cultural test to accommodate someone outside of the normal structure, as one of the issues cited at Red Bull in recent years has been Newey getting credit and the official technical team being left in the shadows. Nobody is without an ego, after all.
With Cardile arriving as chief technical officer in 2025, it's not just a question of how Newey's contribution will be accommodated and how he feeds into the structure, but also what changes with Cardile there.
Current technical director Fallows worked with Newey at Red Bull for 15 years before moving to Aston Martin, knows his methods well, and has talked of Newey lacking technical arrogance.
However, F1 teams can be very politically charged and given Newey will be expected to breathe his magic on the design and development of its F1 cars, it will be necessary for everyone to buy into this collective approach.
Given Cardile agreed to join before Newey signed up, that dynamic will be particularly important.
THE FINAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE?
Aston Martin has grown enormously since mid-2018 when Stroll took over what was then called Force India (pictured above) - itself a descendant of the small Jordan team that was, until very recently, still based out of a tiny site across the road from Silverstone adjacent to the new factory, and spent its entire history being an underdog.
Apart from its early 2023 overachievement, though, Aston Martin has been less than the sum of its parts.
Aston Martin started 2023 superbly with a car that appeared to draw on the best ideas from new recruits who joined from rival teams - including Red Bull and Mercedes.
That yielded a run of six podiums in eight races for Alonso, who was unfortunate not to win during this spell, but it started to slip backwards and its development efforts induced difficult car characteristics.
Late in the season, a mix-and-match car specification allowed Aston Martin to have a solid finish to the year but while it started 2024 well with top-six finishes in three of the first four races, Aston Martin then fell back from the top four teams.
Again, the problem was upgrades introducing problematic characteristics, mainly problems with porpoising that forced set-up compromises, although an upgrade introduced at the Hungarian GP in July appeared to help.
Even so, Aston Martin is firmly a midfield runner, recently dicing with Alpine, Haas, Williams and RB for minor points finishes at best.
The pressure will be on for Newey to play a key role in changing that because a vast amount has been invested in the team, it's grown rapidly, has a state-of-the art factory and Newey will be regarded as the final piece in the puzzle.
Stroll has spent big, including on Newey, and will expect the team to take a big step in 2026 when F1's new regulations and the Honda engine arrive.
And much as he is unquestionably a genius, one of the great technical minds in motorsport history, he could do his part perfectly but be let down in other areas.
