Last Updated on January 8 2025, 9:58 am

Adrian Newey is considered one of – if not THE – best F1 car designers of all time. He was recruited from McLaren when the energy drinks empire bought the defunct Jaguar team and completed eighteen years with the Milton Keynes based outfit.

As with all creative geniuses, Newey has needed managing during his mammoth stint with Red Bull following disagreements at both Williams and McLaren which forced him to look elsewhere after a relatively short tenure with the teams.

Newey became disillusioned with Formula One when the V6 turbo hybrid power units were introduced in 2014 for two reasons. Firstly the regulations now favoured dominant power over his clever aerodynamics and secondly Renault who were supplying Red Bull with the new powertrains had failed to invest properly in the research and development  of the new V6 engines.

 

 

 

 

Newey restless

Red Bull decided to allow Newey to explore other projects outside of Formula One, which include some work on an America’s Cup sail boat challenger, the Aston Martin Valkyrie hyper car and latterly Red Bulls own version of a high end sports car in the RB17.

It appears Christian Horner always knew the time would come when Newey would either hang up his pencil and easel or even decide he wanted a new challenge in Formula One. So in 2018 Pierre Wache was appointed as the team’s technical director leaving Newey a free roaming role to offer input into the technical team and work for just 6 months of the year.

With the 2022 ground effect regulations coming into force, Newey was well positioned to understand the potential difficulties with these cars, given the last time they were seen in F1 was when Newey was a fledging in the sport.

Most of Newey’s input into the 2022 Red Bull challenger was related to the suspension and the front end of the car, as he revealed in 2023 in an interview with Sky F1. Clearly Newey understood the difficulties with the new requirements for a stiff chassis and to be able to run as low to the ground as possible.

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Aston Martin captures F1 guru signature

His anti-pitch and dive front end design meant the RB18 had there most stable platform in the field, with little or no bouncing and porpoising evident, unlike the Mercedes’ design. Yet the miracle Newey suspension became problematic for the team last year, as the car was too stiff in places like Monaco and Singapore where the kerbs were larger and Verstappen complained about being bounced off line.

Adrian announced to the world he was leaving Red Bull during the height of the internal scandal which threatened an outbreak of civil war within the Red Bull organisation. Yet he remained ‘undecided’ over his future claiming he may just get in a motorhome with hs wife and the dogs and take a drive. He claimed like Forrest Gump he was just “very tired.”

Red Bull put Newey on gardening leave in April 2024, yet agreed a period of just eleven mo the, significantly reduced from the contractual time scale. This was presumably a good will gesture based on the fine service he’d offered the team over almost two decades.

Within four months, Lawrence Stroll of Aston Martin had captured the F1 designers signature by offering him an ownership share in the F1 team, a huge signing on bonus and the title of managing partner for all technical matters within the team.

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Red Bull “Blocked” Newey’s tools

With the F1 teams now allowed to work on the big new card design rules changes coming in 2026 since January 1st, Newey is chomping at the bit to get going. The Aston Martin F1 car for the current season will now be almost complete as team’s begin production of the prototype racing machines not long into the new year.

Whilst Adrian is expected to give input into the current car for 2025, his focus will be on the all new cars and power units coming this time next year. Meanwhile the rest of the grid is already underway with their preliminary designs due next year, however Newey will have to wait until March 2nd, before he can get to grips with how to best interpret the FIA’s conundrum.

Speaking on a recent Autocar podcast, Newey was asked whether Red Bull could realistically prevent him from fleshing out ideas for the 2026 Aston Martin. “No, they can’t, but they’ve blocked my tools,” the Briton explained.

“So obviously, Aston wants to do the best job they can in ’25, but my main kind of focus will be the ’26 regulations and this big change because I start on March 2.

“The aero rules come out, I think, 1 January, or might be the second, whatever the working day is. So I’ll already be kind of two months behind the curve.”

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Settling into Aston Martin will take time

The challenge for Newey extends beyond the two months he will lose before starting his new role in Silverstone. He will need to familiarise himself with the new engineers under his watchful eye and get to grip with the different systems and processes used by Aston Martin.

“In truth, of course, it’s more than that, because not only will I be behind on the looking at those regulations compared to when they’ve come out…

“With the way the regulations have gone, you really need to be in front of a CAD [computer-aided design] system as well, to be able to understand all the boxes and so forth. They’re so prescribed.

“But also, it will be getting to know a new team, getting to know all the guys and girls there and how we all work together.”

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Stroll building mega F1 team

Lawrence Stroll is attempting to build a mega F1 team. They have recently occupied new $200m dollar premises just outside the gates of Silverstone and their new wind tunnel is due to come online early this year.

To this end, Stroll has recruited Mercedes V6 power unit guru, Andy Cowell as CEO and he will lease with Honda who in 2026 will become the power unit supplier to Aston Martin.

Further, Ferrari’s ex-chief technical officer, Enrico Cardile has now joined Aston Martin, and this power house trio will be focused on 2026.

Newey’s reputation for innovation and creativity is unparalleled in F1 at present, yet only time will tell whether the two month delay puts him and the Aston Martin team on the back foot.

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CLASH: Martin Brundle v Elon Musk

The world of Formula One rarely mingles with the chaotic cesspool of global politics, but when Martin Brundle, a former F1 driver and current Sky Sports pundit, decided to take shots at Elon Musk on X (formerly known as Twitter), it felt like watching Verstappen do a hot lap – unexpected, daring and ‘electrifying’.

Brundle, a figure known for his wit and measured tone, rarely descends into outright hostility. But on a chilly Monday night, he logged on to X, cracked his knuckles and let loose.

“I like Twitter/X and it has served F1, Sky, me and those around me well for a while,”Brundle wrote. “But Elon Musk is such a daily, globally meddling prick that I feel the need to go elsewhere.”… READ MORE