02/05/2024
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have both admitted that it would be a dream to work with Adrian Newey now that the design guru is a free agent.
Mercedes is also linked with the Briton, but romantics imagine a 2020s version of the Brawn/Todt/Schumacher/Byrne dream team at Maranello or Newey becoming the final link in the puzzle as Lawrence Stroll seeks to make Aston Martin a serious title contender.
"Very much," admitted Hamilton at today's press conference when asked how much he would like to see Newey at Ferrari next season.
"He's got such a great history, track record," he continued. "And, you know, he's obviously just done an amazing job through his career in engaging with teams and the knowledge that he has.
"I think he would be an amazing addition," he smiled. "I think they've already got a great team," he said of Ferrari. "They're already making huge progress, strides forwards, their cars quicker this year. But yeah, it would be a privilege to work with him."
However, asked if Newey was ever mentioned during his talks with Ferrari before signing on the dotted line, the seven-time world champion was a little more reticent. "This is all private conversation stuff," he replied. "But if I was to do a list of people that I'd love to work with, he would absolutely be at the top of that."
Asked his thoughts on the chances of Newey heading to Maranello, Hamilton said: "I don't know. We'll see.
"When I joined McLaren, I think it was an evolution of his car," he added. "I think I got there just after he left. So that car had evolved from a concept that he had worked on. So I felt privileged that I'd had the chance to touch something that he had worked on.
"Racing against a team that he's been so heavily a part of through the years has been a massive challenge, but I think we just always need to remember that there's a lot of people in the background and there is not one key person that... It's not one person, it's a whole team of people who do the job. So you can imagine for all the amazing experience that he brings to the team, the people that he works with will continue to do an amazing job. And I don't anticipate Red Bull not continuing to build great cars moving forward. But any team would be fortunate to have the opportunity to work with him."
Having committed what is no doubt the remainder of his career to Aston Martin, Alonso is equally keen to have Newey on board.
"I always wanted to work with him once in my life," said the Spaniard. "I respect him a lot. I consider him the best probably F1 ever had, a legend of the sport. I feel in a way privileged to drive alongside him in the paddock, obviously as a competitor, but I feel lucky to be part of his journey and he was part of my journey as well because I always competed against his cars.
"I will have the Aston Martin Valkyrie in my garage," he grinned, "and that will be a little gift to myself, having Adrian Newey's car!"
The Spaniard also admitted that talks to join Red Bull in the early 2010's, shortly after it entered the sport, always mentioned Newey.
"I was close a few times," he said. "Even spoke with him a few times because some of those meetings in the past were not only with Christian and Helmut, some of them was with Adrian. I always expressed my admiration to him and he was always sharing his respect also to me. Let's see what he does in the future."
As for Newey joining Aston Martin however...
"It's a question for Lawrence. We are very happy with our technical department. Adrian is the best or one of the best out there but he needs to fit in a team. It's more Lawrence's decision than Adrian's, ultimately, decision that needs to happen. We are not focused on that at the moment there are a lot of things we need to fix on the car here in Miami."
Asked his reaction to this week's big news, Sergio Perez admitted: "I would say, not ideal. Someone like Adrian has been tremendous to our team, to our organisation. And he's obviously a very good friend of mine as well in this time that we spent together. But at the end of the day, there are times in life... I think he spent like 20 years at Red Bull. I think he probably wants to do something else. And it's fair.
"I think Red Bull, it's in a great place," he added. "It has a very good, very strong organisation with Pierre, with Enrico, with Ben. I think the whole aero group is very strong and we're just looking forward to the future. I think you've seen in the past with these big teams, big names, when they leave they will always exist, it doesn't matter. It's not down to one single individual, it's a whole organisation and I think Christian has done a great job in sort of preparing for the next generation of what's going to happen to Red Bull."
Asked if Newey's departure could see other high profile names heading for the exit at Red Bull, Perez said: "I don't think so. I think everyone is fully committed to the team.
"We're having a tremendous season once again. The future looks bright in the team, so I think it's normal that you have this sort of movement with some people. But I think the organisation remains really strong and I don't see any more changes in that regard."