Adrian Newey has reportedly been offered £84m (€100m) to join Aston Martin when his time at Red Bull comes to an end. The legendary aerodynamicist has been heavily linked with Ferrari and McLaren, but Lawrence Stroll’s outfit are desperate to get their man.
When the 65-year-old announced ahead of the Miami Grand Prix that he would be leaving Red Bull come the end of the season, he sparked a frenzy in the paddock with several teams launching bids to bring Newey on board.
Ferrari were the instant frontrunners with some Italian media reports stating that contract negotiations were in advanced stages. However, as the season has progressed, the picture has changed.
According to a report from the German news outlet F1-Insider, Stroll Snr is willing to offer Newey £84m spread across four seasons in a bid to whisk him away from the clutches of Ferrari.
This money will be hard for the Briton to turn down and when combined with the fact that joining Aston Martin would allow him to stay closer to home and his family, the Silverstone-based team look like an attractive proposition.
Should Newey accept the reported offer from Aston Martin, it would effectively end Lewis Hamilton’s chances of working with the Essex-born engineer before his glittering career comes to an end. The seven-time world champion is swapping Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025 and had hoped to link up with the long-serving Red Bull chief at Maranello.
“I think he would be an amazing addition [to Ferrari],” Hamilton explained earlier this season. “I think they’ve already got a great team, they’re already making huge progress and strides forward… the car is quicker this year. But yeah, it would be a privilege to work with him.”
Newey is also keen to work with Hamilton at some point, but the 65-year-old is not rushing his decision. “It wasn’t a big surprise when other teams showed an interest after I announced I was leaving, but I won’t make a quick decision about my future,” he told The Times.
“I need a break to work out if I want to have another go in F1. I also didn’t want to risk going stale. There are some drivers, like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who I would have loved to work with, but so far it has not been the right place or time in terms of us coming together.
