Newey reveals key reason behind Aston Martin F1 switch

Adrian Newey has revealed that he decided to join Aston Martin as he "needed a new challenge", with team owner Lawrence Stroll having been key to his arrival.

Aston Martin announced the signing of Newey at its Silverstone factory, with the F1 technical expert to start his position as managing technical partner on March 1 2025. 

Newey has also become a shareholder of the Silverstone-based team, but will be focusing on its 2026 car for when the new power unit regulations are introduced. 

Several teams tried to hire Newey following his Red Bull departure, with Aston Martin being the victorious outfit. 

The elite designer took time over his decision after opting to leave Red Bull, having already achieved so much in his F1 career. 

"Lawrence, that's easy," said Newey during an Aston Martin presentation, when asked why he opted for Aston Martin over other teams. "No, seriously. I think I felt as if I needed a new challenge. 

"And so kind of towards the end of April, I decided I needed to do something different. Spent a lot of time with Mandy, my wife, kind of discussing, 'Okay, what's next? What do we do? Do we kind of go off and sail around the world? Do I do something different, America's Cup or whatever?' 

"So we took a bit of time out, and I felt I've been lucky enough to have achieved what I aspired to from the age of 10 or 12, which is simply to be a designer, I don't even use the word engineer, in motor racing. 

"And I can honestly say, everything else has been a bonus, having sort of achieved that straight out of uni. 

"I never, of course, expected anything like what I've been lucky enough to be involved with, but you have to be honest with yourself, you have to keep yourself fresh. And so I felt I needed a new challenge. So took a bit of time off."

Stroll importance

As teased by Newey, the team owner was integral to his decision to join Aston Martin, with the 65-year-old being an admirer of how Stroll conducts his work. 

Stroll is a very active team owner, something Newey believes is rare in modern F1. He likens it to how F1 used to be, with that offering a "different" but exciting feeling for Newey.

"Lawrence and I have known each other off and on over the years," revealed Newey. "We often bump into each other in the gym, particularly at the Middle East and Far East races. 

"So, as I kind of said, when I announced to everybody that I would be departing the old team, I was very flattered to have a lot of approaches from various teams.

"But really, Lawrence's passion and commitment and enthusiasm is very endearing. It's very persuasive. The reality is, if you go back 20 years, then what we now call team principals are actually the owners of the teams, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan, etc, etc. 

"In this modern era, Lawrence is actually unique in being the only properly active team owner. And I think that does bring a different feeling when you have somebody like Lawrence involved, like that. 

"It's back to the old school model and to have the chance to be a shareholder and a partner, is something that has never been offered to me before. So it's a slightly different slant. It's one I'm very much looking forward to. It became a very natural choice."