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.
In May this year Red Bull announced Newey was leaving the team, a decision he had made a month earlier. “I decided to stop at Red Bull really over the Suzuka weekend back in April,” said Newey. “Then, genuinely, I had no idea what would be next.”
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.
“It’s hard to understand, comprehend or try to explain these three spectacular buildings if you don’t visit,” he said. “It’s a very big part of our tool to make us [into] a championship team.
“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…
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