The excitement among Aston Martin fans for the future is higher than ever as one of the best aerodynamicists of all time — Adrian Newey will join them in 2025. While Newey has plenty of experience in designing championship-winning cars, having done so for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve believes that he cannot do it all alone.
“Adrian Newey can’t design a car alone. He needs input from the driver,” the Canadian former driver said on Spin Casino (as quoted by Marca). “He needs input from the right driver and he needs the right people around him, which he will build over time”.
Villeneuve feels that the “right driver” is Lance Stroll, the son of Aston Martin F1 owner Lawrence Stroll. Although Fernando Alonso is the senior driver in the team and also the more successful one, Villeneuve believes that Lawrence would not have invested so much in the team to see a driver other than his son become champion.
Fernando Alonso Adrian Newey
Pedro de la Rosa predicts the two modern F1 greats will be a winning combination https://t.co/AA0BvGoXwa#F1 @AstonMartinF1 pic.twitter.com/MlPHJ4Vgp7
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 10, 2024
However, since Lance does not have the experience of winning races and fighting for championships that Alonso has, he may struggle to provide the feedback that Newey would need to design a strong car, as Villeneuve suggested would be pivotal.
And if Aston Martin does indeed produce a championship-winning car in the next couple of seasons, Alonso will be desperate to fight for the title himself.
Intra-team battle in Aston Martin could heat up
With Aston Martin having fought for podiums at best in the past couple of seasons, Stroll and Alonso have been very good teammates and have also helped each other on several occasions to get the best result for the side. However, that could all change if they see themselves fighting for victories and possibly even the championship.
Alonso, who has not won a race since 2013, will be desperate to get back to winning ways. And since the Spaniard is in the twilight of his career, he would want to make the best of any opportunity he might get, knowing that he perhaps does not have much time left in the sport.
Stroll, on the other hand, would be desperate to get his maiden F1 win. With so much on the line for both drivers, Aston Martin may find themselves in a tricky situation if they do end up producing a championship-winning car that most experts expect them to do.
