Adrian Newey claims Lawrence Stroll’s involvement takes him back to ‘old school’ F1 after Aston Martin move
Adrian Newey will be seen repping the green-color of the Aston Martin Formula 1 team from 2025 onwards.
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Adrian Newey and Lawrence Stroll (via IMAGO, Motorsport)
Adrian Newey held a pivotal role at Red Bull and aided the latter in achieving several world championship titles. This relationship broke down this year due to rifts forming within the team. The Brit went out on a search for his next home on the grid, and multiple teams insisted on Newey joining them. However, he chose Aston Martin as the next chapter in his F1 career as he is famous for his old-school practices, which conveyed a sense of similarity between him and team owner Lawrence Stroll.
Aston Martin bought the Racing Point outfit in 2020 and started their journey to the top of the F1 pecking order. The team showed glimpses of performance and hired world champions in the form of Sebastian Vettel followed by current driver Fernando Alonso. Moreover, the team invested in huge facilities that would aid them in becoming a champion outfit sooner or later.
Subsequently, the team announced that they hired Adrian Newey from 2025 onwards, further armoring their inventory. People accredited this move to Lawrence Stroll as the Canadian is the team owner and has an extensive presence in F1.
The reality is if you go back 20 years, what we now call Team Principals were actually the owners of the teams, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan, etc. In this modern era, then Lawrence is actually unique in being the only properly active team owner, and I think that does bring a different feeling when you have someone like Lawrence involved like that. It takes you back to the old school model.Adrian Newey said at Aston Martin’s press conference
On the other hand, Newey revealed that he was impressed by Stroll’s style of leading the team, which gave him a flashback of how F1 teams worked a few decades ago. Moreover, the Canadian’s presence on the team and determination would have been vital in tempting the Brit to join Aston Martin.
Lawrence Stroll revealed the timeline when he started the talks with Adrian Newey
Though Newey and Red Bull’s ties were on the verge of breaking after the initial rounds of the 2024 season, teams held out from approaching the former due to his formal bond with the Austrian giant. However, when the news of him leaving Milton Keynes broke cover, teams surrounded Newey with lucrative offers to make him join their team.
Stroll revealed that similarly, Aston Martin was one of the teams that contacted Newey after the announcement of his departure from Red Bull.
As soon as Adrian[Newey] became available, we knew we had to make it happen. Our initial conversations confirmed that there was a shared desire to collaborate in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.Lawrence Stroll said in the press release by Aston Martin
The 65-year-old explained that as soon as he knew the design wizard had become a free agent, he contacted the latter to start initial conversations. He then revealed there was a similar interest from Newey’s side aiding the conversations, which later turned to full-time contract talks.
Despite Newey joining Aston Martin, the Silverstone-based outfit has been scrounging for minor points recently. Thus, the Brit would have to make major changes in the team’s future cars to ensure that the project is headed in the right direction.
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Geetansh Pasricha
(772 Articles Published)