Adrian Newey’s move to Aston Martin is reportedly set to be announced prior to next week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It is claimed that a September date had always been earmarked for the highly-rated engineer to go public with his next destination, allowing six months before he leaves Red Bull.
In May, Newey revealed that he will depart Red Bull in the first quarter of 2025 after 19 years with the team. He stepped back from Formula One design duties to focus on the development of next year’s RB17.
News of the 65-year-old’s next move has been highly anticipated. There have been links with Mercedes and Ferrari, the latter of which will boast Lewis Hamilton among its drivers for next season.
However, Autosport claim that Aston Martin have won the hotly-contested race to sign Newey and will announce his impending arrival before the Azerbaijan GP next week. The reported announcement will end months of speculation, in which it was even suggested that Newey could take a lengthy sabbatical from F1 before deciding what he wanted to do next.
The former McLaren and Williams engineer is set for an immediate return, though. The report claims that secret talks with Aston Martin CEO Lawrence Stroll at the team’s Silverstone base were key in persuading Newey to snub interest from teams who are currently more successful.
Aston Martin are conducting an aggressive recruitment drive of some of the sport’s best engineers, with Newey the most prized of them all. Andy Cowell, engine boss at Mercedes, is due to join as Group CEO in October as part of some exciting changes. Former Ferrari technical director Enrico Cardile has also been signed.
Questions have been raised over how the team will fit all of the key individuals into a coherent structure.
Newey likely faces a tough job at Aston Martin. They are fifth in the constructors’ championship but remain way behind Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes. Driver Fernando Alonso admitted that Newey will not be able to overhaul their performance by himself.
“Well, still only rumours and I think it’s not only [a] one-man job to fix the things,” the Spaniard said when asked about Newey’s possible arrival.
“So it’s more what we have now and what we are producing – understand what is going in the right direction, what is going on the wrong direction and try to prepare 2025 in a better way.”
