Incoming Aston Martin Formula 1 designer Adrian Newey has revealed that he made the choice to leave his Red Bull role at the Japanese Grand Prix weekend in April.
Aston Martin has announced the anticipated news that Newey’s next venture within F1 will come with the side as its Managing Technical Director on a long-term deal.
The Briton will begin his new position when his illustrious 18-year spell with Red Bull concludes in March 2025, having taken the decision to depart earlier this season.
Newey, who has helped Red Bull to win six Drivers and seven Constructors’ titles, has disclosed how the round in Suzuka was the point at which he made up his mind.
But although Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll contacted him once the news was public, Newey has admitted that he was unsure whether he would continue in F1.
“I decided to stop at Red Bull, which was kind of really over the Suzuka weekend back in April,” Newey disclosed. “Then genuinely had no idea what would be next.
“Just wanted to have a blank mind, kind of take stock, enjoy a bit of a break and was hoping that standing in the shower somewhere, the spark would come of, ‘yep, this should be the direction’. And Mandy [Newey’s wife] was a big part of that as well, of our discussions and what should we do.
“So, yeah, I think kind of come late June, let’s say certainly, then I felt actually, you know what, it’s what I’ve ever, to be involved as a designer in motor racing, has been my ambition since the age of 10 or so. I’ve been lucky enough to achieve that.
“I think it would be an exaggeration to say I’ve enjoyed every single day of my career, but well over 90% has been hugely enjoyable.
“I still love the challenge of trying to add performance to the car. That’s my kind of prime motivation. That’s what gets me up in the morning.
“And I think then if you’re going to work, I think what’s amazing about technical sport, if you like, so by technical sport I mean that combination of man and machine, then you have that immediate feedback of how you’re doing.
“It can be painful of course when you’re doing badly, but you have that feedback.
“And if I compare that back to lots of my friends who I still keep in contact with from university, from my aeronautics course,
then they went to work for British Aerospace and Rolls-Royce engines and so forth and they had no feedback. So I think I’ve chose well, if you like, to work in this.”
Newey came close to leaving Red Bull sooner on multiple occasions, including in 2014 when an underpowered Renault engine made him disenchanted with the sport.
However, Red Bull’s genius decision to collaborate with Aston Martin on the Valkyrie hybrid sports car and assign Newey to that saw him turn down Ferrari’s proposal.
With Red Bull having swept all the titles since F1 reverted to ground effect in 2022, Newey believes now is the right time to take on a new challenge with Aston Martin.
“It’s well known in 2014 with the hybrid engine, we were in a position where we didn’t have a very competitive PU and with no light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
“So that’s when I felt I needed something else to kind of also be involved in, which of course became Valkyrie.
“Once we got the Honda PU, it was a very different position and so then I got back involved on the Formula 1 side with the 16, I think it was 14, 15, 16, 16B and then the 18 and so forth.
“But certainly it’s now a very mature team, so I felt able to, once we got through the peak of designing the research and design of the 22 car, the big regulation change car, to step back a little bit because the 23 and this year’s car are very much evolutions of that first 22 car.
“But this is something different, it’s that fresh challenge, that kind of new stimulation and so I always do what I feel is needed for the best of the team.”
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