Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey has signed a five-year contract with Aston Martin from 2025. Several teams scouted the in-demand 65-year-old over the 2024 season.
One of these teams was Williams, with team principal James Vowles recently sharing his thoughts on why they were unsuccessful in signing the engineering legend.
Why Adrian Newey chose not to sign with Williams for 2025
Newey decided to part ways with Red Bull due to rising tensions across the team that began earlier this year. The current Contructor’s Championship holders are one of three teams that the Brit has worked for, however, Newey also worked with Williams and McLaren in the earlier years of his life. Throughout his illustrious career, he has contributed to 13 Drivers and 12 Constructors Championships.
Adrian Newey’s cars have won 12 constructors championships for three different teams and 13 drivers titles, but what could be next for star designer? 👇#F1 #Formula1
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 1, 2024
Newey spent the majority of the 2024 season evaluating his options, which included considering a potential return to one of his former teams or even branching out and visiting the likes of Ferrari and Aston Martin. He eventually decided that he would prefer a new venture and went on to replace Dan Fallows as the Managing Technical Partner of Aston Martin on September 10.
Following his decision, James Vowles spoke to the media and admitted why he believed it was not the right time for Newey to return to Williams, the team for which he had previously spent four years working. He addressed the team’s infrastructure, saying, “I do not want to build an infrastructure that depends on a person. Williams is not about me, a driver or an engineer.”
James Vowles went on to say that he does not feel as though Williams is ready to take on such a huge figure within the sport, saying: “He would have overwhelmed our team, and that would have achieved the opposite effect. He would have been frustrated in the end.”
What does Aston Martin have that Williams doesn’t?
As a result of his five-year deal with Aston Martin, Newey will officially take up the role from March 2025. Additionally to becoming a Managing Technical Partner, the Brit was also offered the opportunity to become a shareholder of the team.
Whilst Williams has been working tirelessly to improve their performance, Aston Martin is equally as focused on becoming a top team on the grid. Williams has, however, shown their dedication through signing Carlos Sainz, who is currently driving at Ferrari and holds four wins under his belt so far.
BREAKING: Carlos Sainz to join Williams Racing from 2025#F1 pic.twitter.com/3O3ROhrEES
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 29, 2024
An aspect of Aston Martin that particularly turned Newey’s head however was their £200 million investment into a Silverstone-based factory for the team that was announced in December of 2022. The factory is nearing completion and was where the majority of Aston Martin’s 2024 car was designed and built. Their high-end resources were especially attractive for Newey, who will have a significant contribution to the team’s cars in the coming years.
As of January this year, Aston Martin announced that they had become the first F1 team to receive ISO 50001 certification. This involved the team putting an energy management system into place to monitor and improve their energy performance. Ben Fitzgerald, the operations director of Aston Martin, described the benefits of the scheme on a long-term basis: “Committing to sustainability initiatives is an important step towards the evolution of the motorsport industry and protecting the planet.“
