SILVERSTONE, England — Billionaire Lawrence Stroll described signing Adrian Newey to lead the technical department of his Formula One team as the “bargain” of his 40-year business career.
It’s rare in any walk of life that an individual being paid up to a reported £30 million a year can be considered a bargain, but that’s how highly the Aston Martin owner values Newey’s talent.
It’s also rare that the signing of an engineer would result in a packed news conference two days before a grand prix, but Newey, 65, is no ordinary F1 engineer. Regularly described as a “design genius,” he not only brings a proven record of success (with 12 constructors’ titles and 13 drivers’ titles to his name) but also that most-prized attribute in a Formula One design office: the ability to consistently make race cars faster in new and interesting ways.
As part of the deal, Newey will become a shareholder in the Aston Martin F1 team, another rarity for an engineer in the sport, and hold the job title of managing technical partner.
“We intend to be around here a very long time together,” Stroll said on Tuesday. “[His contract] is relatively inexpensive for everything Adrian brings to the partnership we will have.”
How did Aston convince Newey to join?
Stroll took ownership of his Formula One team in 2018, when he rescued the failing Force India outfit from bankruptcy. It was a team that had regularly punched above its weight, but — working out of a factory built in 1990 to launch Eddie Jordan’s F3000 team to F1 the following year — had likely reached its ceiling.
Stroll, who earned his billions buying and selling luxury brands in the fashion industry, made clear from the start that he aspired to take his team to the very top of F1. Back in 2018, though, the idea of Racing Point — as it was then known — fighting Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari seemed far-fetched. The idea that it would do so with Newey at the head of its technical team was bordering on pure fantasy.
Looking back six years shows just how impactful Stroll’s vision, and money, can be.
The Canadian says he first approached Newey three years ago, around the same time the team was rebranded as Aston Martin, and a five-year plan to challenge for race wins and championships was mapped out. Included in that plan was the demolition of the old Jordan factory and the building…
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