10/09/2024
NEWS STORY
Finally confirmed at Aston Martin, design legend Adrian Newey explains why he decided to commit to the British team.
"There were discussions, yes," Ferrari boss, Fred Vasseur recently told L'Equipe. "But probably his ideas were different from what I had in mind for him," he admitted.
"Maybe one day we will find common ground," added the Frenchman. "But as I said, it is not an individual that changes the outcome of a team. The group is always stronger than the individual."
If nothing else, today's announcement left Tom Rubython with egg on his face, his BusinessF1 magazine exclusively claiming that Newey had signed to the Maranello outfit ahead of the Miami weekend.
While many quote the rumoured $25m - $30m annual salary, the fact is that Newey likes a challenge, and taking Aston Martin from the midfield to the front of the grid is certainly going to take some doing.
Newey, who earlier this year, as part of the courtship, was given a personal, guided tour of the Silverstone-based outfit's facilities, is hopefully one of the final pieces as Lawrence Stroll puts his money where his mouth is in his determination to create a championship winning team.
Though he admits to first talking to Newey some years ago, the Canadian insists that discussions didn't get serious until the Briton announced his intention to leave Red Bull.
It was interesting that at this morning's announcement, Newey constantly referred to his wife, Mandy, his obvious devotion to her suggesting that there is perhaps some truth to the talk of him being uneasy with the Horner saga.
That aside, the Briton insists that he felt it was time to move on with his life, possibly find a new direction, and that moving to another F1 team was one of the last things on his mind.
"I felt as if I needed a new challenge," he said. "And so kind of towards the end of April, I decided I needed to do something different. I spent a lot of time with Mandy, my wife, kind of discussing, 'Okay, what's next? What do we do? Do we kind of go off and sail around the world? Do I do something different, America's Cup or whatever?'
"So we took a bit of time out, and I felt I've been lucky enough to have achieved what I aspired to from the age of ten or twelve, which is simply to be a designer, I don't even use the word engineer, in motor racing.
"I can honestly say, everything else has been a bonus, having sort of achieved that straight out of Uni. I never, of course, expected anything like what I've been lucky enough to be involved with, but you have to be honest with yourself, you have to keep yourself fresh. And so I felt I needed a new challenge. So took a bit of time off.
"Lawrence and I have known each other off and on over the years," he continued. "We often bump into each other in the gym, particularly at the Middle East and Far East races. So, as I kind of said, when I announced to everybody that I would be departing the old team, I was very flattered to have a lot of approaches from various teams. But really, Lawrence's passion and commitment and enthusiasm is very endearing. It's very persuasive.
"The reality is, if you go back twenty years, then what we now call team principals are actually the owners of the teams, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan, etc, etc. In this modern era, Lawrence is actually unique in being the only properly active team owner. And I think that does bring 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 has never 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."
Stroll and the team are keen to point out that Newey isn't joining as Technical Director, but Managing Technical Partner and shareholder.
"Adrian is joining as Technical Managing Partner," confirmed Stroll. "He will be the leader of the technical team, he'll be a leader also in the company and the overall business as a partner and shareholder.
"We have a strong team, some of which Adrian has already worked with," added the Canadian, referring to the likes of Dan Fallows, the team's Technical Director, who worked alongside Newey at Red Bull.
"Adrian is going to be the technical managing partner of that team," he continued. "So on a day-to-day basis he'll be here full commitment, full time committed to Formula 1. Giving leadership and direction to his team.
"There's been many pieces as a puzzle from when we started six years ago to hiring the great management team we have today," said Stroll. "To bringing in two of the greatest partners in the industry. We've brought Aramco to be our partner and they really are a partner. There's no better partnership in the world than we have with Aramco. And to be able to bring Honda exclusively to work for us for the next five years after the new regulation starts. Our partners are also tremendously important.
"Adrian is key, key, key and the biggest part of the puzzle," he added. "Certainly from a technical point of view, from a leadership point of view. He will be leading the team. And I think that will have a trickle-down effect throughout the whole organisation."
Understandably unwilling to discuss money, Lawrence is adamant that securing the Briton was a great deal for the team.
"I can tell you, Adrian is a bargain," he said. "I've been in business for over forty years now and I've never been more certain. It's not an investment. He's a shareholder and a partner. He's the best partner I can bring into a company, we intend to be around here a very long time together. So it's relatively inexpensive for everything Adrian brings in the partnership we will have."