After completing his gardening leave following a widely public Red Bull departure, Adrian Newey’s latest chapter officially began today, March 3, with Aston Martin sharing photos of him at their Silverstone base.
Newey‘s arrival kicks off a brand new era for the team. Gone are their underdog days of aiming for midfield positions. With the legendary aerodynamicist, anything short of a championship triumph — albeit in a few years in time — will be considered a failure.
However, Aston Martin was not the only team to go after Newey’s signature when he revealed that he would leave Red Bull. The likes of Ferrari, Alpine, and Williams were all reportedly interested.
But no one offered Newey more than what the Lawrence Stroll-led stable did.
As the team owner, Stroll has left no stone unturned since taking over the team formerly named Force India, in 2018. After rebranding the team as Aston Martin, he brought in Fernando Alonso in 2023, invested over $200 million in upgrading the facilities and also signed in key engineers from other teams.
The last piece of the puzzle was Newey, who has designed 12 championship (14 drivers’ championship) winning cars to date. So, to bring Newey in, Stroll offered an annual salary package of £30 million (~$38 million) — a staggering amount. This figure will see the 66-year-old earn $4,344 per hour.
The Adrian Newey x Aston Martin era officially begins today
His reported salary will see him earn £3,424 every hour pic.twitter.com/HtqRuny5Rw
— Autosport (@autosport) March 3, 2025
No engineer has ever been paid so much in F1 history, but Newey is no ordinary figure. Even Alonso feels that Aston Martin’s best chance of winning a world title will be with Newey heading the technical division. Unfortunately, it almost certainly won’t be in 2025.
Newey’s delayed arrival
Back in September last year, the announcement of Newey joining Aston Martin generated a buzz in the F1 community, sparking hopes that a new contender would finally step up. However, his gardening leave — a period of time engineers switching teams in F1 are forced to sit out for — ended only on March 2.
The AMR25 has already been revealed, and except for a few minor touch-ups, there’s not much Newey can do to make the car better than what was seen at the pre-season testing.
Aston Martin looked average at best, with the pace in these early days suggesting that they are nowhere close to matching the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull. But one thing is certain — Newey will work tirelessly behind the scenes to improve the situation.
So, even if it’s not 2025, the Briton will certainly put in the hours to build a competitive challenger for 2026. Who knows, maybe Alonso will bow out of F1 at 44 next year with a title win.
