In an interview with BBC Sport which took place last November, legendary car designer Adrian Newey was asked which driver he most wished he had worked with, and he surprisingly named Fernando Alonso, although he has also expressed similar sentiments about Lewis Hamilton, who will be joining Scuderia Ferrari starting with the 2025 Formula 1 championship.
Regarding Adrian Newey’s future after his confirmed departure from Red Bull, it seems the likelihood of him joining Ferrari has unfortunately diminished considerably.
Sources close to Scuderia Ferrari have informed BBC Sport that chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna hesitated at the high salary Adrian Newey demands and expressed concerns about the British engineer potentially having too much influence and disrupting the internal structure of the company.
High-level sources within the sport indicate that Adrian Newey is currently in active discussions with Aston Martin, making it his most probable next move. McLaren is also a potential destination, as reported by F1 correspondent Andrew Benson for BBC Sport.
However, for now Adrian Newey has yet to make a definitive decision on where he will go next and he will only officially reveal his final decision in September given a clause in his contract with Red Bull.
In the meantime, Scuderia Ferrari has struggled since Charles Leclerc’s victory on the streets of Monte Carlo in Monaco, facing challenges with their latest aerodynamic upgrade, which had to be removed from the car in the previous round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit. The Maranello team seems to be in a state of confusion as they try to sort out these performance issues, while also waiting to find out who will replace Italian aerodynamicist Enrico Cardile as techincal director and whether Adrian Newey will in fact arrive in Maranello.
