Why Aston Martin’s Adrian Newey appointment is a bigger coup than landing Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen
WHEN an Formula 1 team has produced an era of total dominance you can bet that Adrian Newey has been at the helm.
The 65-year-old design guru has been the common denominator between several periods of team supremacy over the last 30-years in F1.
That’s why Aston Martin snaffling him up as managing technical director is a bigger coup than landing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen.
Newey has rightly earned a formidable reputation in F1 and is one of the most sought-after talents in the paddock.
He is the most successful designer of the modern era and his statistics speak for themselves, with 12 drivers’ championships and 13 constructors’ titles to his name.
And he is worth every penny of his eye-watering salary at Aston which could rise to as much as £30 million-a-year.
Stroll believes Newey is what is needed to turn his team into title contenders within a couple of years.
That’s because Newey, an aerodynamicist by trade, has the Midas touch when it comes to F1 teams, delivering success almost everywhere he has gone.
His skills in interpreting and exploiting regulations to deliver fiercely competitive cars make him a cut above the rest.
He made his mark when he was recruited by Williams in the early 1990s before they went on a run of utter dominance.
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In 1992 they won 10 of 16 races that season, with Nigel Mansell dominating the championship as they won both titles.
Newey then switched to McLaren in 1998, delivering with a car once again with Mika Hakkinen going on to win the title, as did the team.
History repeated itself at Red Bull when under Newey’s technical leadership they became truly competitive in 2009 as the RB5 proved the outright quickest car and delivered four titles from 2010-14.
Newey delivered another title-capable car in 2021 with Verstappen and Red Bull dominating until this current season.
In 2023 the Dutch driver and Red Bull produced the most dominant season in F1 history, with 19 wins for Verstappen and 21 for the team out of 22 grands prix.
Newey’s cars have set trends that others have had to follow and often that has coincided with regulation changes.
It could just be a happy coincidence that Red Bull have lost their way with their car since he stepped away from F1 in May.
But there is no hiding that the team has lost their spark without Newey’s magic touch.