Adrian Newey regret theory emerges over Aston Martin’s ‘inevitable result’

It is “inevitable” that winning is in the future of Aston Martin after securing the services of Adrian Newey, a missed opportunity which rivals “will live to regret”.

That is the claim made by Sky Sports correspondent Craig Slater, who envisages a successful future for the Aston Martin team with Newey in tow.

‘Inevitable’ Aston Martin win with Adrian Newey

Ahead of May’s Miami Grand Prix, F1 design guru Newey announced his departure from Red Bull Racing, making the Red Bull RB17 hypercar his final project with the company.

Interest in the services of one of Formula 1’s greatest designers – who has Williams, McLaren and Red Bull title success all sat proudly on his CV – was never going to be lacking, but it was Aston Martin who sealed the deal, Newey to begin work in March 2025 with the team which owner Lawrence Stroll has invested heavily in.

And, Slater believes Stroll’s investment is guaranteed to be transformed into F1 success with Newey’s presence.

“Lawrence Stroll has speculated to accumulate,” he said.

“Why did Aston Martin get Newey ahead of the others, who might have done? A lot of the influential people at the other teams who were tipped to get Newey said ‘we don’t want to be drawn into a bidding war for his services’.

“I sense today that a lot are regretting that they didn’t splash more cash, and force the issue.

“It feels like, at this time, the inevitable result is winning at some stage.”

Newey takes on the newly-created ‘managing technical partner’ role at Aston Martin, with his deal also including shares in the team.

And F1 rivals of Aston Martin will be left to rue the outcome, Slater warns.

“If you read Newey’s book, you know it’s something he has wanted,” Slater continued. “So if you’re serious about getting him, find a way to do it.

“I don’t think Stroll gave away a massive chunk of this team. You can make him a shareholder without diluting significantly the key shareholders of the team.

“He has done what he needed to do, to get him in. He’ll be the one laughing. The others will live to regret not taking this opportunity.”

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2024 proved an underwhelming campaign for Aston Martin as the team ended the year without a podium.

And ahead of Newey’s arrival, fellow Red Bull defector Dan Fallows departed the Aston Martin technical director role with “performance” the reasoning.

“The performance of the team this year hasn’t been at the level that we’ve all been wanting it to be at,” Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough began.

“So we haven’t quite delivered there and that’s basically been a decision made by the team.

“I sat next to Dan for the last two or three years since he’s been here, working closely with him, he had a really big impact on the development of the ’22 car, the ’23 car.

“He’s brought a lot to the team, to be honest.

“From that side, it’s been good fun working with him. But ultimately during ’24, we haven’t delivered on track to the level that we know we’re expecting to and wanting to do.

“The development of these cars has been hard and ultimately it’s a performance-based industry. The team’s made the decision to make some changes.”

Aston Martin has retained the driver line-up of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll for F1 2025 and beyond into the new regulatory era, Aston Martin to join forces with Honda as their new engine supplier under the new engine and chassis rules for F1 2026.

Honda powered Newey’s Red Bull designs to six championships in total since the alliance began in 2019.

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