Adrian Newey had ‘long discussions’ with £3.3bn F1 team before choosing Aston Martin

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Adrian Newey’s future in Formula 1 has now been decided and Aston Martin are the team that will benefit from his expertise from the beginning of March in 2025.

Red Bull will be left wondering whether they could have done any more to keep hold of Adrian Newey after their partnership of nearly two decades came to an end after this season’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Since then, Newey hasn’t been working on their F1 project and it may be simply a coincidence that they’ve started to struggle ever since.

Newey wasn’t happy with the amount of credit Christian Horner gave him for his contribution to their recent successes and it’s up to his successors – Pierre Wache and Enrico Balbo in particular – to prove they can still win championships without him.

Aston Martin offered Newey a lucrative deal that included becoming a stakeholder with the team.

His manager, Eddie Jordan, has spoken on the Formula For Success Podcast about why he made the decision he did.

Jordan previously admitted every team on the grid had an interest in Newey which shouldn’t come as a surprise.

However, he’s now said that Newey held extensive talks with Ferrari before deciding to stay based in the UK.

Jordan has also provided his reasoning for why he thinks the Aston Martin project was perfect for Newey at this stage of his career.

Eddie Jordan says Adrian Newey held ‘long discussions’ with Ferrari before choosing Aston Martin

Explaining Newey’s monumental move, Jordan said: “Now you might very well ask why did he go to Aston Martin when there were so many other teams wanting his signature and looking for his future.

“Well, in my opinion, there’s a couple of very sensible and realistic reasons why.

“One of them was the position, which is total control, responsibility, which he’s never really ever had before with other team principals and other shareholder people and partners and this is what this offers.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage

“It offers him a shareholding, a position of total responsibility of control, a board position and a partnership with Lawrence Stroll and quite clearly that is very different to what has happened before.

“This is a team that perhaps is very similar to where he was when he joined Red Bull.

“They were a top-five team just like Aston Martin is with a huge vision, a huge desire from the owner with Dietrich Mateschitz at Red Bull and of course, Lawrence Stroll at Aston Martin.

“The fact that he has yet to work with Lewis or Fernando. It was important that he tried to see what would happen, Lewis going to Ferrari, of course, we did have long discussions with Ferrari.

“But Aston Martin and Fernando were the ones that came back to give what Adrian feels was, if you like, give juice to his challenges that he wanted to see how he could get a team from just like Red Bull from the top five up to the top drawer.”

Ferrari set to restructure technical team after missing out on Adrian Newey

Team principal Frederic Vasseur has seen plenty of new personnel arrive at his team over the last 12 months.

The most exciting signing – Lewis Hamilton – doesn’t arrive until the end of the year but the £3.3bn-valued outfit have plenty of exceptional talent within their ranks even if Newey isn’t among them.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Loic Serra will take a leading role in the team once he arrives from Mercedes and the signing of Jerome d’Ambrosio is also seen as a coup.

Vasseur can now step back from the technical position he’s held on an interim basis after Enrico Cardile decided to take up an offer to join Aston Martin as well.

Newey admitted in his unveiling at Aston Martin that Ferrari were the only other brand in F1 that had the same – or arguably better – reputation in the sport, highlighting his respect for the organisation.

There are four teams at the front of F1 right now who are looking to find an edge over their rivals.

It won’t be long until Aston Martin join that group once Newey and Lawrence Stroll’s other marquee signings get to grips with their new surroundings.