Newey set to become Aston Martin's shareholder alongside his technical role
Having announced his new working environment at Aston Martin's F1 team, Adrian Newey has also revealed that he will not only work for the team as a designer, but he will also become a shareholder of the company.
Adrian Newey announced his departure from Red Bull on the 1st of May. Since then, he has been linked to multiple teams, including Aston Martin, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes as well.
Aston Martin has now finally ended the speculations, confirming that star designer Adrian Newey has committed his long-term future to the Silverstone-based Formula One outfit, with the British engineer set to join the team next March.
The British designer will begin working at the team's Silverstone HQ from 1 March 2025 taking up a new role as Managing Technical Partner.
Speaking about the reason why he elected to chose Aston Martin at a press conference held by Aston Martin at Silverstone on Tuesday, Newey said that Aston Martin's CEO Lawrence Stroll has played a key part in his decision.
"Lawrence and I have known each other off and on over the years,. 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 20 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.
Newey paid a secret visit to Aston Martin's new technical campus in June on a Sunday before the Canadian Grand Prix. The Silverstone-based squad has been working on a brand-new headquarters that will consists of three building. While the first building has been finalized and team members have already began working in the new environment, the second and third building that will house the simulator, wind tunnel and a host of other important rooms, will be ready to be used later on this year.
Red Bull's former star designer has revealed that while the new facility has played a part in his decision, the fact that he has been offered a share in the company has been even more vital.
"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. Lawrence, that's easy! No, seriously. I think I felt as if I needed a new challenge.
"And so kind of towards the end of April, I decided I needed to do something different. 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 10 or 12, which is simply to be a designer, I don't even use the word engineer, in motor racing.
"And 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."
