Adrian Newey lists options before choosing Aston Martin F1 role

Formula 1 design guru Adrian Newey considered multiple options both within and outside motorsport after quitting Red Bull about 12 months ago.

It was on the eve of the 2024 Miami GP that Newey announced that he would leave Red Bull, bringing to an end a two-decade relationship with the energy drinks giant.

The decision saw him step down immediately from Red Bull’s F1 operations and focus on the RB17 hypercar until his last day with the company on 1st March 2025.

This sparked a race among other teams to sign him, with Aston Martin eventually securing his services in September last year. He officially began working at the Silverstone-based team in March and attended a grand prix for the first time in ‘green’ in Monaco last weekend.

Speaking in Monte Carlo, Newey revealed that he was unsure what to do about quitting Red Bull and debated a wide range of options with his partner before zeroing in on Aston Martin.

“I resigned from Red Bull for a whole host of reasons, and genuinely at that point had no idea what I was going to do next,” he told Sky F1.

“So then it was kind of sitting back, thinking about it, chatting to Mandy, my wife, about what we should do. That ranged from kind of relax and go on sun holidays, drink lots of margaritas or something to going again to work.

“And then, if it’s going to be work, what would that be?"

Adrian Newey compares America's Cup sailing to F1

Red Bull Technologies was involved in America’s Cup, piquing Newey’s interest, but the Briton noticed a massive contrast between sailing and F1.

"America’s Cup is very interesting, very much a parallel universe,” he said. 
“Technologies are all very similar. The only thing I don’t like about America’s Cup is there’s no right of reply. You’ve got a competition once every four years.

"And from when the boat goes in the water to when you're competing is two months at most. So if you haven’t got the design quite right to start with, you really haven’t got time to sort it out.

“Whereas in Formula 1, even if you don’t start the season well, if you’ve got the fundamental architecture of the car right, you’ve got the right power unit, great drivers, then you can turn it around. And McLaren’s a very good current example of that.”

Adrian Newey: "Road cars have always been an interest"

Having already had an involvement in the road car industry, first with the Aston Martin Valkyrie and then the Red Bull RB17, this was a field Newey was definitely inclined towards.

"Road cars have always been an interest,” he said. “I enjoyed the Valkyrie project, I am enjoying the RB17 project because I’m still involved in that.

“But I think what I’ve loved about my career is that combination of man and machine, sporting endeavour - the fact that every week, or very often now every week, you’re out on show."

Ultimately, the fast-paced environment of F1 was too hard for Newey to leave.

"If I compare that [F1] to my friends from university who went into aeronautics, working on aircraft for companies like British Aerospace or Rolls [Royce], they’re working on projects where you don’t see whatever you’re working on fly for 10 or 15 years.

“There’s not a lot of feedback. So I kind of felt it needed to be man and machine, competition again."