Adrian Newey and Scuderia Ferrari, the dream continues. The British designer is at the center of many rumors that would see him out of Red Bull by the end of the 2024 Formula 1 championship. The Christian Horner controversy and all that happened afterwards could indeed push the genius car designer of the Austrian team to leave Milton Keynes after almost 20 years. A move that could clearly open up important scenarios from various points of view and for important teams, which are now doing everything possible to secure him in the near future.
We have already talked about how Scuderia Ferrari has moved in recent weeks as soon as they felt the opportunity that arrived once the legal problems began at Red Bull: convincing Adrian Newey to move and leave England, however, is no small matter, but the Ferrari team could play an interesting card, namely Lewis Hamilton, a driver with whom the Englishman would be very pleased to work before ending his illustrious Formula 1 career, and on the other hand, the seven-time world champion would not mind finally joining forces after years of unsuccessful negotiations.
There is a catch, though: in recent weeks, Aston Martin also seems to have set its sights on Adrian Newey. The team led by Lawrence Stroll, with the support of the main sponsor Aramco, would have put a considerable amount of money on the table to secure the British car designer. However, for someone like Adrian Newey, money matters a lot but not as much; he is mainly interested in designing the fastest cars, driven by the best drivers in the world, therefore, the situation can be either enticing or not, depending on individual perspectives and needs.
Newey/Ferrari: the Aston Martin track cools down
Seeing Adrian Newey at Scuderia Ferrari would clearly be a dream, not only for the fans of the Maranello team but for the entire Formula 1 movement, as the culmination of a truly long negotiation process. However, the involvement of Aston Martin could disrupt plans in Maranello, also because Lawrence Stroll can rely on a structure that is increasingly growing, on a pile of money (which obviously is not lacking at Ferrari as well), on the Honda engine, and on the fact that in doing so, Adrian Newey would remain in England, which has always been one of the cornerstones when it comes to negotiations involving the chief technical officer of Red Bull.
Let’s also remember the collaboration between Adrian Newey and Aston Martin for the development of the Valkyrie, one of the fastest supercars in the world, also leveraging what was once a partnership between Red Bull and the same British brand. A project that, in fact, ties Adrian Newey to the company now owned by Lawrence Stroll. It’s just a side note, it doesn’t mean absolutely anything, but it’s a piece of news that needed to be included in the context of our discussion.
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Aston Martin, however, officially wanted to deny any interest in signing the British Formula 1 engineer. Team principal Mike Krack, in fact, poured cold water on the matter, perhaps also to protect his men currently in the technical team of the Silverstone-based squad. Mike Krack believes that Aston Martin already has a very strong team with Dan Fallows, Tom McCullough, Luca Furbatto and Bob Bell. The Luxembourgish motorsports engineer.confirms that he is very satisfied with the team at his disposal at the moment.
All this, of course, regardless of Adrian Newey’s stay at Red Bull, which certainly should not ruled out. The RB20 single-seater continues to win and dominate races and championships, but the problems within the company remain and tensions are higher than ever, even though it may not be apparent. The feeling is that something will happen by the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season, and key figures from the last 20 years will no longer be part of the energy drink company in the near future.
Ferrari doesn’t let go and quietly continues talks with Newey
For some time now, in collaboration with Red Bull, the British car designer has had an alternating presence in the factory, limiting himself to being present an average of three days a week. This despite the Milton Keynes headquarters being reachable for him in a few minutes. The problem of non-continuous presence would not be a limitation for Ferrari as, even in the triumphant years of the Michael Schumacher era, the super consultant Rory Byrne, the ace up the sleeve of the then Prancing Horse, was often engaged in many non-sporting activities such as underwater fishing.
However, the South African engineer possessed a team working for him, capable of translating his concepts into the best single-seaters that Scuderia Ferrari unveiled in the early 2000s. On the other hand, we know that Aston Martin is determined in its pursuit of Adrian Newey. A sort of all-in, now or never. Money is not lacking, nor are the structures. Furthermore, the future collaboration with Honda as an exclusive partner for the design and creation of the 2026 power units must be considered. A group of technicians and engineers is being assembled, bearing in mind that almost all of the workforce that created the current power unit powering the RB20 has been absorbed by Red Bull Powertrains.
We’re talking about approximately 150 individuals. Nevertheless, the ambitions of the future Aston Martin-Honda partnership are really high. This is evidenced by the new European base that will match the historic Sakura headquarters. The Silverstone-based team is pushing hard, trying to replicate the “Red Bull product.” A challenge that starts from scratch where the 65-year-old Briton would have the power to make the final decision on everything. On the other hand, Adrian Newey needs to design and unleash his great inventiveness freely. He is not interested in power struggles and intrigues, an environment that the reigning world champion team has been inhabiting for some months now. As for the rest, there is an important factor.
Between Oliver Mintzlaff (chief executive officer of corporate projects and new investments for Red Bull) and Christian Horner, there is not at all good blood. For this very reason, the potential loss of Adrian Newey would weaken Christian Horner’s value, showing a significantly higher vulnerability. Furthermore, there is another interesting motivation. Certain scenarios within the world of Formula 1 hardly occur by chance. Even in recent times, Simone Resta has shown his worth at Scuderia Ferrari. However, upon leaving the Haas team this year, the Italian outfit did not even consider him, effectively releasing him from his contract.
As we know, Italian engineer has settled in at Mercedes, where he currently works as strategic development director, along with another technician from the Prancing Horse, namely Enrico Sampò. Simone Resta will be the director of strategic development and will report directly to the technical director of the German team, James Allison, for his work. While Enrico Sampo will dedicate his efforts to software applications related to performance, considering that he was the supervisor of the simulation group at Maranello. Now, thinking outside the box, it wouldn’t be madness to consider that in the advanced negotiations between Adrian Newey and Ferrari, the Briton may have placed certain conditions for his arrival.
On the contrary, the English car designer already has a pool of close-knit technicians at his complete disposal, who, as was the case with Rory Byrne in his time, have the extreme ability to transfer Adrian Newey’s ideas and concepts onto the cars. Although this latter reasoning moves into the realm of hypotheses, it could still be part of a chessboard that is already in motion, as Ferrari’s top management continues to discuss with Adrian Newey, and the intention to bring him to Italy through further meetings to support a new winning cycle remains stronger than ever.
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