Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has revealed that Fernando Alonso was willing to sacrifice as much as 20 per cent of his wage to help bring Adrian Newey to the team.
The legendary aerodynamicist was revealed as a member of the Aston Martin team in the lead-up to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after months of speculation. The 65-year-old will reportedly bring home as much as £30million per year as part of the deal.
Newey’s signature was not easy for Aston Martin to obtain. The Silverstone-based outfit initially faced intense competition from Ferrari, with Fred Vasseur engaging quickly in an attempt to follow up Lewis Hamilton’s signing with the most successful engineer in the sport’s history.
The Scuderia were, however, unwilling to be sucked into a bidding war for Newey’s services and despite some interest from Williams, the Essex-born engineer had looked destined for Aston Martin for around a month before the announcement came.
However, a surprise player nearly had a role in the deal. Offering an insight into Alonso’s contributions, Krack revealed: “I think it is clear Fernando has a long future in this team. He was all excited about it on Tuesday also when we had the discussions.
“He was even saying that he will pay his wages to pay Adrian. There was a talk about 10 per cent, 20 per cent. So I will find out later today how much it really is. You can really see the huge respect that these two people have for each other.
“I think they want to achieve something. For Adrian, he always wanted to work with someone like Fernando and vice versa. So I think we have to try to get everything in place and also facilitate a good collaboration between these two.
“Or between the drivers and Adrian as well. We know that he comes to races and that is something again, we need to facilitate and try to learn as much as we can from it. Being open and flexible.”
While Newey’s arrival could have a revolutionary effect on the team’s performances from 2025 onwards, there is little he can do to turn their fortunes around in the short term. The Silverstone-based outfit are in a midfield no man’s land with eight races remaining in 2024.
Heading into this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Lance Stroll and Alonso have both finished in the top 10 in just two of the last 13 races. This concerning trend highlights the need for Newey’s insight heading into the 2025 campaign and beyond.
