Adrian Newey wants Aston Martin to hire someone on £2.5m-a-year driver’s level

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Red Bull Racing may have been wishing that Adrian Newey was still on the pit wall during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

For the first time since last season, Sergio Perez got the better of Max Verstappen across the race weekend until the final three laps.

Although the Mexican driver’s chances of securing a much-needed podium ended when he and Carlos Sainz made contact, he was far superior to the three-time world champion.

Verstappen was driving on a knife edge and admitted that changes the team made before qualifying were a mistake.

The weekend leading up to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was dominated by the news that Adrian Newey will be joining Aston Martin in March 2025.

Newey would have been watching on and although Red Bull lost their grasp on the Constructors’ Championship, they still outperformed his new team.

Fernando Alonso was the best of the rest throughout the race, while a poorly judged move on the first lap by Lance Stroll ended his chances of scoring points and forced Yuki Tsunoda to retire.

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

Speaking on the Inside The Piranha Club Podcast, journalist Rebecca Clancy shared what she had heard about Newey’s thoughts on Aston Martin’s current driver line-up.

Alonso is a previous F1 world champion but hasn’t achieved that feat for nearly two decades.

Given he’s not been in a competitive car for some time, it’s hard to know whether he’s still quick enough to challenge the very best drivers on the grid.

The jury is very much still out on Lance Stroll despite having taken part in more than 160 Grand Prix.

Newey is understood to want a driver on Oscar Piastri’s level at Aston Martin to race for him once he arrives.

It would elevate the team to the next level and set off another chain reaction of events in the driver’s market similar to Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari.

Adrian Newey wants a driver on Oscar Piastri’s level at Aston Martin

Talking about the driver situation at Aston Martin, Clancy said: “But I want to talk about the drivers because Fernando Alonso, he’s got a contract through to the end of 2026.

“Lance Stroll is the incumbent until I think his father sells Aston Martin. Adrian Newey isn’t going to accept that.

“There is now, well, I had heard previously that if Newey went, he wants someone in line with perhaps Piastri would be a good fit.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

“They’re now obviously on the radar of Max Verstappen because if Red Bull really are going the way that we think they’re going, then he’s fifth, sixth, while championships aren’t quite as guaranteed as perhaps people had expected, much to the annoyance of Mercedes.

“George Russell, I think, still very much untapped potential being slightly, not wasted, but that championship does seem like it’s slipping away slightly for him while he’s watching Lando Norris fighting in his first title battle with McLaren.

“So, it’s really interesting now what this means for the driver markets.”

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris unlikely to be teammates forever at McLaren

The £2.5m-a-year Australian did a phenomenal job in Baku to win the race by pulling off a sensational move on Charles Leclerc to take victory.

Lando Norris is still the lead driver this season given his proximity to Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship, but Piastri could very well be the driver challenging for the title in 2025.

Norris has been told it could be the beginning of the end for him at McLaren if Piastri ends up beating him this season.

That scenario is unlikely to play out as McLaren are planning on prioritising Norris although on this occasion that wasn’t possible after his Q1 exit.

If Newey ends up building a race-winning car, Aston Martin will have some top drivers offering their services to the team.

Lawrence Stroll then has the difficult decision of whether to drop Alonso or his son to achieve that coveted title win.