07/09/2024
NEWS STORY
As speculation over Adrian Newey reaches fever pitch, Fernando Alonso opines that it will take more than the design genius to turn Aston Martin's fortunes around.
If McLaren, and to a lesser extent Mercedes and Ferrari, have been the surprises of the 2024 season, surely Aston Martin must be the biggest disappointment.
That string of podiums at the start of 2023 seems a lifetime ago, the Spaniard, and his Canadian teammate, now fighting over the scraps with the likes of Williams and Haas.
Contrary to BusinessF1's claim that Newey signed a three-year deal with Ferrari worth $107m ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, it appears that Lawrence Stroll has convinced that Aston Martin is more worthy of his talent.
However, ahead of official confirmation of Newey's signing, which is expected to be announced on Tuesday, Alonso claims that the design guru who has won titles with McLaren, Williams and Red Bull, will have his work cut out.
"It's not only one man's job to fix things," said the Spaniard at the weekend as the Newey speculation intensified. "It's more what we have now and what we are producing.
"Understanding what is going in the right direction, what is going in the wrong direction, and try to prepare 2025 in a better way," he added.
Indeed, though essentially on gardening leave, Newey remains chief technical officer at Red Bull until March 2025, though his only involvement in the company is his continued work on the RB17 Hypercar.
Though 'free' from April 2025, he is unable to put pen to paper with a rival team until September 6, tomorrow. Even so, this would give him no input into the 2025 contender leaving him to focus fully on the first car of the new rules era, which doesn't exactly solve Aston Martin's immediate problems.
"We need to understand that the big target is 2026," said the Spaniard. "But at the same time, I think as a team, we could accept not being in the top four battle. They are top teams and they are well in front of us.
"But now to be behind Williams, behind Haas, behind Toro Rosso, I think we need to raise the bar a little bit. We need to get better.
"I think we still have time to react," he insists. "It's September, McLaren improved in four months from last to podium. So we have clear examples.
"Also, Mercedes started the same as us. We were level with Mercedes for the first four races, and they won three races already this year. So I'm not a fan of excuses."
Newey has previously admitted his regret at never having worked with either Alonso or Lewis Hamilton, and with the pair now 43 and 39 respectively one has to doubt whether he will ever fulfil his wish.
Furthermore, once Newey is in place at Aston Martin, the team will no doubt attract the cream of talent, the likes of Max Verstappen only too eager to team up with the man that helped him to three titles, while Alonso - not for the first time - leaves a team just as it comes good.