Peter Windsor names the F1 team who needed Adrian Newey even more than Aston Martin

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Every team on the Formula 1 grid was no doubt chasing Adrian Newey’s signature when it emerged that he was going to leave Red Bull at the end of the season.

The legendary designer has been credited with bringing success to the Milton Keynes squad over the years with his ingenious car designs, which have always pushed the regulations to the limit.

Months of talks ensued between nearly every team including Ferrari, who eventually turned down Adrian Newey’s services because of his demands.

Newey was also linked with offers from Williams, McLaren and Alpine, but has reportedly settled on Aston Martin in a £30 million-a-year deal with an announcement due imminently on his future with the team.

Amid the demand for Newey’s signature, Peter Windsor believes there is one team that needed him more than most to get them back into winning championships when speaking on his YouTube livestream.

Mercedes needed Adrian Newey more than Aston Martin

Newey will be paired with ex-Red Bull engineer Dan Fallows at Aston Martin, while also bringing in a handful of engineers.

Windsor believes his appointment is a ‘massive slap in the face’ for Mercedes, who have struggled to return to regular winning and challenging for titles since 2021.

“For the team principal and the owners [of Mercedes] it is a massive slap in the face not getting Adrian Newey,” said Windsor.

“That is the team that needed Adrian more than any other and where he could have made the most impact, without changing too much of the structure.

“Questions will be asked at board levels as to why Mercedes has failed to get Newey. They’ll do a very good smoke screen job and the reality is they needed Newey.”

Aston Martin have ‘most modern’ factory on F1 grid

Aston Martin has usually outsourced a lot of its work and parts because it could not produce them in-house.

It previously used a wind tunnel facility at Mercedes to help design its cars, but now that will be switched to its on-site facilities that include model support and production under one roof.

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

Aston Martin’s factory at Silverstone has been described as the ‘most modern’ on the grid, which should enable them to have better lead times on new parts and exploit more on-track performance.

McLaren has shown how critical having new facilities is with its current form in F1, while Mercedes also has some of the most modern which helped them develop their title-winning cars between 2014 and 2021.