Adrian Newey has opened up on the once “crazy” notion of leaving Red Bull to move onto pastures new in Formula 1 with Aston Martin.
Newey, 66, has achieved everything imaginable as an F1 designer, contributing to world championship success with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull.
His tenure at Red Bull could be considered Newey’s most impressive, joining in 2006 and turning the Milton Keynes-based outfit into a title-winning machine by 2010.
However, Newey made a huge decision last May to part ways with Red Bull after 19 years with the team.
By September, it was announced he’d embark on a new challenge in 2025 as Aston Martin’s Managing Technical Partner.
Newey reflects on leaving Red Bull
Less than a year since Newey announced he’d be leaving Red Bull, having turned it from rank outsider to dominant title force, the legendary F1 design guru reflected on his exit in conversation with Auto Motor und Sport (AMuS).
“If you’d said to me 12 months ago, would I be leaving Red Bull and then now ultimately starting again, I would have said, ‘no, you’re crazy,” said Newey.
“But, for various reasons, I felt I wouldn’t be true to myself if I stayed at Red Bull.
“So the first difficult decision was exactly that. Do I stay at Red Bull or not?
“I obviously came to the conclusion that, being honest with myself, I couldn’t. And then having made that decision, it was then what to do next?”
“And with my wife, Mandy, we discussed various things. One was, obviously, I’m in the lucky position that I don’t need to work financially.
“So it could have been simply retire and sit on the beach, or it could be to do something completely different, Americas Cup, or maybe work for one of the OEMs in road cars, or stay in racing.
“And if I was going to stay in racing, then I might as well stay in Formula 1, assuming people wanted me.”
Why Aston Martin?
Once Newey was on the market, there was constant speculation about where he would head next.
Ferrari, back to McLaren or even Williams?
Several teams were looped into the Newey net but one emerged successfully and that was, of course, Aston Martin.
Chairman Lawrence Stroll snagged Newey in a lucrative deal that will see the Briton oversee Aston Martin’s technical efforts and become a shareholder in the team.
Newey will reunite with Honda in 2026, with the Japanese marque ending its power unit deal with Red Bull at the end of this year to become Aston Martin’s works engine provider from next season onwards.
Newey will also have a state-of-the-art facility to work with at Silverstone, but speaking during his unveiling at Aston Martin, Stroll’s determination was named a key factor.
“Lawrence’s passion and commitment and enthusiasm is very endearing, it’s very persuasive,” Newey said.
“The reality is if you go back 20 years then what we now call team principals are actually the owners of the teams. Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan etc.
“In this modern era then Lawrence is actually unique in being the only properly active team owner and I think that does bring, it’s a different feeling when you have somebody like Lawrence involved like that.
“It’s back to the old school model and to have the chance to be a shareholder and a partner is something that hasn’t been offered to me before.
“So it’s a slightly different slant, it’s one I’m very much looking forward to. It became a very natural choice.”
Why Newey opted against retirement
Still, at 66, having achieved several world titles, one could forgive Newey for calling time on his F1 career and heading into retirement.
In his conversation with AMuS, however, Newey revealed that would be the boring option.
“I feel incredibly lucky to have had that position where I kind of enjoyed my waking day, which, after all, let’s say that your waking hours are 16 hours, then you should probably spend at least eight to 10, if not more, at work,” he explained.
“So a big percentage of your waking life. And so to enjoy that is very lucky. So a long way of saying I really came to the conclusion that actually I did want to carry on working, that I’d get bored doing nothing.
“And so if I was going to work, then why not continue doing what I’ve always wanted to do and have enjoyed doing?”
READ MORE – Adrian Newey will be playing catch up at Aston Martin thanks to Red Bull
