F1 legend Adrian Newey SNUBS Lewis Hamilton after shock move but major twist could still emerge

Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Newey at Ferrari — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Legends

Newey SNUBS Hamilton after shock move but major F1 twist could still emerge

Hopes gone over Newey and Hamilton dream team at Ferrari

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Tuesday 10 September 2024 12:57

The one that got away. For what seems like months, it looked destined that the ultimate dream team of Lewis Hamilton driving an Adrian Newey-designed Ferrari was edging towards completion.

Instead, Aston Martin have swept the rug from under the Italian team's feet by landing a stunning £30million per year move for the outgoing Red Bull design guru who has won more world championships with cars designed on his trusty pen and pad than the amount of f-bombs Max Verstappen delivers over Red Bull's team radio on any given weekend.

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Still, there are positives to take. Newey's pedigree in F1 does not need repeating, just the headline takes. Those being whether he is at Williams, McLaren or Red Bull, silverware soon comes piling in and at the very least even the worst cars tend to still be front runners (McLaren MP4/18 aside).

Fernando Alonso and Adrian Newey is finally on

While Newey to Ferrari isn't happening, Alonso and Newey is. Not working with the Spaniard was previously one of his biggest career regrets, and now we hopefully get to see that chapter play out - albeit regrettably a few years too late to see it with a prime version of the two-time world champion.

Even if we take the Alonso equation out of it, we have one of F1's all-time great designers arriving at a team who can seemingly build a half-decent car but have no idea on how to develop it, judging by their recent pattern of mid-season declines in the development wars.

Fernando Alonso and Adrian Newey will now combine at Aston Martin

The more up the front the merrier right? Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin all in the hunt for victories. Who wouldn't want race weekends where literally half of the grid have a reasonable shout of winning a grand prix?

But what have we lost? Hamilton and Newey was the blockbuster sell. The stars looked like they had finally aligned too.

Why has Newey not joined Ferrari?

In truth, was it ever really on? Red flags should have been raised based on Newey's past reluctance to join the team despite multiple approaches, and while the thought of upping sticks and moving to Italy has its perks (a proper summer being one of them) it clearly hasn't been something that has particularly appealed greatly to Newey.

Easy solution perhaps, work from Britain - it is the 21st century after all and a time when most things can be done with an internet connection. But that's when Ferrari's infamous 'political' reputation starts creeping in.

Adrian Newey has turned down the chance to join Frederic Vasseur at Ferrari

John Barnard was another well respected British designer who helped Ferrari partially reverse declining fortunes during the late 1980s and the mid-1990s, but his refusal to integrate himself in the team by moving to work in Italy eventually led to him being overlooked once the dream team of Michael Schumacher et al. came along.

Then there is where he fits into the Ferrari setup anyway. Team boss Frederic Vasseur appears to be getting more things right than wrong these days, but the inclusion of Newey could make re-organising the technical team in place a bit of a tricky one, again creating internal politics which Newey understandably doesn't want to be a part of.

There is though another aspect to consider with Newey and that is just how much motivation and ingenuity is there left in him? He loves his work and projects whether they are professional or personal ones and that perhaps answers the first question.

Aston Martin have failed to build on promising starts to the season

Can Newey turn around Aston Martin's fortunes?

But there is an unanswered aspect to Newey in that Red Bull didn't seem to be totally unhappy over his exit. Disappointed maybe so, but whether it's PR spin or otherwise, Christian Horner has discussed Newey's recent contributions to the Red Bull designs as more of an oversight role as the likes of Pierre Wache take centre stage in the team.

Newey is now 65 and still working with his tried and trusted methods which as mentioned earlier have not let him down in his working life so far. At Aston Martin, he is set to have a much greater influence on the technical aspects which appear to have receded in his final years at Red Bull. It was a lack of more technical authority that saw him depart Williams in 1996 and McLaren at the end of 2004.

Whether these Newey methods are going to continue working a charm as we enter the second half of the 2020s will eventually be answered, but there is a shelf life to all the greats in F1 as younger minds with fresh ideas takeover, and this Newey story could have a twist few people could have expected.

Regardless of Newey's success or failures at Aston Martin though, it's excellent for F1 to see arguably one of its greatest ever designers take up another project in the sport - even if it's not the fairytale version that many fans were perhaps hoping for.

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari McLaren Christian Horner