Adrian Newey at Aston Martin: The big bang of F1

Sep 10, 2024

Adrian-Newey-chez-Aston-Martin-Le-big-bang-de-la-F1 HYTRAPE

F1 has just experienced an earthquake. Adrian Newey, the genius behind the most successful cars of the last thirty years, is leaving Red Bull for Aston Martin. It's as if Leonardo da Vinci changed workshops in the middle of the Renaissance!

Newey is the Midas of F1. Everything he touches turns to gold... or rather world titles. His career? A true mechanical fairy tale. It started at Williams in 91. Bam! Four constructors' and drivers' titles in five years. His FW14 and FW15? UFOs on the track. Aerodynamics pushed to its paroxysm, an active suspension that makes the others look like carts.

Not happy with dominating with Williams, he went to McLaren in 97. Here we go again! Two drivers' titles for Häkkinen, one constructor. The guy is a winning machine.

But it was at Red Bull that he would really make his mark. 2006, what was Red Bull? A mid-table team that sold cans. Newey arrived, and boom! Four consecutive doubles from 2010 to 2013 with Vettel. His RB7? An engineering masterpiece that made the other teams cry with jealousy.

Even when hybrid engines arrived in 2014 and Red Bull struggled a bit, Newey didn't give up. He refined, he innovated. Result? Max Verstappen who has crushed everything in his path in recent years.

And now, here he is, signing with Aston Martin. 120 million euros over five years, plus 75 million shares in the team. That's not a piece of cake! From March 1st, he will be their "chief technical partner". In other words, the big boss of design.

This is a masterstroke for Aston Martin. With Newey at the technical helm, they have just given themselves the best possible asset to play in the big leagues. Red Bull, for its part, loses its chief architect. It's like the Beatles losing John Lennon.

One thing is for sure: the 2025 season promises to be exciting. Will Newey succeed in transforming Aston Martin into a war machine as he did with his previous teams? Will Red Bull succeed in maintaining its dominance without his genius? F1 has not finished surprising us!