How Adrian Newey may already be helping pay back his Aston Martin salary

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Adrian Newey is set to become one of the highest-paid people in British sports when he joins Aston Martin in 2025.

The legendary Formula 1 car designer is reportedly on a base salary of £20m-a-year that potentially rises to £30m with bonuses.

This puts Adrian Newey on par with some of the highest-paid drivers on the grid including Lando Norris, and on a higher salary than Manchester City football manager Pep Guardiola.

Under the current F1 cost cap, the wages of the top three earners within a team are exempt from adhering to the budget. The giant wage reflects just how sought-after Newey is on the grid due to his ability to extract the most out of a regulation package.

This is what Aston Martin hopes he will bring to the table as the 2026 regulations near, which features an all-new radical chassis and power unit design. Given Newey’s track record of bringing success to a team, Marc Priestley expects it will have an impact on an important area when speaking on his YouTube channel.

Adrian Newey to bring in more sponsorship deals for Aston Martin

A huge part of F1 is sponsorship deals and teams often sign lucrative big-money deals with brands to help pay for their expenditures under the cost cap.

Given the increased exposure that a winning team gets versus one that finishes in the midfield, Priestley thinks it is likely that Newey will influence whether some brands increase their involvement or more invest in Aston Martin going forward.

“I wonder how much the phone has been ringing at Aston Martin with brands and sponsors wanting to up their involvement if they are already existing partners with the team,” said Priestley.

“Because you want to be associated with this movement. The team is growing and is going to have success in almost everybody’s eyes.”

Adrian Newey rejected ‘big money’ deals from Aston Martin rivals

After announcing his intention to leave Red Bull at the end of the season, the race to sign Newey was competitive given his status as one of the best car designers in modern F1.

Newey entered into negotiations with Ferrari and their talks reached an advanced stage before team principal Frederic Vasseur vetoed the move over his salary demands.

READ MORE: Adrian Newey’s success at Aston Martin will depend on key partnership

Mercedes reportedly did not show Newey enough ‘respect’ when contemplating whether he could join, while Alpine made a late approach for Newey but by then he had made his mind up.

Billionaire team owner, Lawrence Stroll, also named him as a shareholder in a lucrative deal that many believe Ferrari could not offer Newey.