A red T-shirt or an almost home environment of Aston Martin? The transfer of Newey may not be easy at all – F1sport.cz

Yesterday there were speculations that Adrian Newey is quitting Red Bull. The information was brought by several German and British sources (AMuS, BBC, Motorsport.com, Sky Sports). At the same time, however, we do not have any official confirmation. If Red Bull does not surprise us, it is not expected in the coming days either.

It wouldn’t be a big surprise if Newey were to end up at Red Bull. There has been speculation about it for a long time. Newey is said to be disillusioned with the aftermath of the power struggle that broke out in Milton Keynes a few months ago.

However, according to Motorsport.com, he has not yet officially submitted his resignation. If it does, where will it go?

There are more options, including retiring. If he stays in F1, he can choose. “If you were to give most team principals the option of having Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen as a driving pair or Adrian Newey as chief constructor, I think most team principals would choose Adrian Newey as chief constructor – he’s that good,” said Sky Sports’ Craig Slater .

Generally, two options are expected – Ferrari and Aston Martin. The third option is (with a greater distance) Mercedes.

However, according to the current (and this needs to be emphasized) situation, Newey’s departure will not be easy. Not only drivers but also engineers and team bosses have contracts. Newey last signed a contract with the Red Bulls last year and is due to expire at the end of next year. For high-ranking engineers, it is also a matter of course to add something that can be translated literally and awkwardly into Czech as “garden vacation”. It is not about hoeing radishes, but about the period when the employee after leaving the team must not work for anyone else, so as not to take away fresh information. Its length is in the range of several months to one year. According to Motorsport.com, Newey is apparently a year old. Thus, Newey could not play for the new team until 2027. Newey was born in 1958, so he will be 69 years old at that time.

Ferrari or Aston Martin?

A contract is one thing, reality is another. Of course, an agreement between the new team and Red Bull cannot be ruled out, which will speed up the whole situation.

Where could Newey be heading? It’s no secret that Aston Martin is interested in him. He could work with Fernando Alonso in the team. Of course, rather if he joins the team earlier than 2027.

But there are more advantages. Newey would come almost to home. The distance between Milton Keynes and Silverstone, where the team’s old and new factories are located, is around 23 kilometres.

From 2026, Aston Martin will use the Honda power units that Red Bull now drives. In addition, Aston Martin itself is not an unknown brand for Newey. He collaborated with him on the development of the Valkyrie hypercar. It’s paradoxical, but this car has kept Newey in Milton Keynes to a certain extent and thwarted Ferrari’s plans to take him to Maranello a few years ago.

“Ferrari pushed hard for him and promised him blue sky – that he could have a Hollywood lifestyle, fly to the factory from Monaco every day, pay no taxes, design a road car…,” Christian Horner told the eff won podcast last year with DRS.

Horner eventually convinced Newey that if he wanted to build a road car, he would build a road car.

We must not forget another element. At Aston Martin, Newey would meet Dan Fallows, who has been working for him since 2022. Before that, he worked for years at Red Bull.

“Some insiders at Aston Martin were explaining to me that they thought if he went anywhere else it would potentially be Ferrari. So we’ll see,” said the aforementioned Slater.

Why Ferrari? Because it’s a Ferrari! Adrian Newey, a legendary designer, would have the opportunity to work with a legendary brand at the end of his career. In theory, he could also get into the development of road cars. In addition, Lewis Hamilton will be there from next year.

“Working with Fernando and Lewis would be wonderful. But it never happened. Sometimes it’s just a matter of circumstance and that’s just the way it is,” Newey said on the Beyond the Grid podcast in September 2023.

The disadvantage is, of course, a completely different environment and also the distance. But it is a question whether Newey would have to “move” to Italy, as it is written. Newey’s position could be in a “super advisor” role. He could only go to Maranello occasionally. And there is no doubt that Ferrari would arrange for him everything from a private jet to a possible office in Britain.

By the way. According to AMuS, Newey was said to have been recently spotted in Bologna at the airport (the closest airport from Maranello).