The £30m ‘bargain’: Adrian Newey deal statement of intent from Aston Martin

Adrian Newey has said he feels under no pressure having been confirmed by Aston Martin as the head of their technical department, an appointment the team hope will propel them into a position to fight for the Formula One championship in short order.

Aston Martin announced on Tuesday that Newey, Formula One’s most successful designer of the modern era, will join the team next season. He has signed a long-term deal, worth what is believed to be up to £30m a year, and will become a shareholder in another bold statement of intent from Aston Martin’s billionaire owner, Lawrence Stroll.

Related: Adrian Newey exit could spark Red Bull exodus, predicts McLaren chief

Newey will be the team’s new managing technical partner, with the 65-year-old starting work with the team and its drivers, the double world champion Fernando Alonso and Stroll’s son Lance, in early March. They have bold ambitions but Newey felt confident in his own abilities, proven with a remarkable record in F1.

“I don’t feel the need to prove myself any more to the external world,” he said. “My motivation is to try to do the best job I can. My pressure comes from within. I remember Frank Williams saying he felt I was the most competitive person in the pit lane. I remember being a bit upset about it at the time. But I cannot deny that I am competitive professionally. I pressure myself to do the best job possible.”

The appointment represents a major coup for Aston, with Newey’s skills considered invaluable in interpreting and exploiting regulations to deliver extraordinarily competitive cars, often with a significant advantage especially at the onset of a set of new regulations. He will join them in time to have a material impact on the design of their new car for the next major rules reset in 2026.

Despite the scale of the investment required to bring Newey to the team, Stroll felt it was more than worthwhile. “Adrian is a bargain,” he said. “I never been more certain. He is a shareholder, a partner, the best partner to have in a company and we intend to be around for a very long time together, so it’s relatively inexpensive for everything Adrian brings to the partnership.”

Newey has earned a formidable reputation in F1 and is one of the most sought-after talents in the paddock. Cars he has played a key role in designing have taken 12 drivers’ and 13 constructors’ championships for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. Since his first with Nigel Mansell and Williams in 1992 he has helped produce titles for Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and Sebastian Vettel.

Most recently, his design of the new Red Bull proved outstanding, far ahead of the rest of the field, enabling Max Verstappen to utterly dominate the past two seasons, including taking 19 wins from 22 races last year.

The British designer had been with Red Bull since 2006 but announced he was to leave the team after nearly two decades at the end of April, having made the decision at the Japanese GP. He had been strongly expected to join Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton, a team and driver he had stated he had always wanted to work with but it is understood the Scuderia were not willing to enter a bidding war with Aston Martin, with confidence in their current design team.

The successful pursuit by Stroll, who made no secret of his desire to bring the British designer to his team, has definitively demonstrated the seriousness of his ambition. He believes they have put in place the building blocks to be title contenders within the next two to three years. With Newey on board the target must now be considered feasible.

Stroll has bankrolled a major investment, going into the hundreds of millions of pounds, since he bought the team when it was Force India in 2018, then rebranded as Aston Martin in 2021 after he bought into the car manufacturer in 2020. He has overseen the building of a new state-of-the-art factory facility at Silverstone, including a wind tunnel, and secured an exclusive deal with Honda as a works engine partner for 2026.

There has been largesse, too, in personnel, headhunting serious ­talent from other teams including the technical director, Dan Fallows, who worked under Newey at Red Bull until 2021; Andy Cowell, the former Mercedes engine director who will join in October; and the former ­Ferrari chassis director, Enrico Cardile.

The team already has a contract in place with Alonso until the end of 2026, with the 43-year-old double world champion potentially in the best position to have a shot at a third title for the first time since he left Ferrari in 2015.

Verstappen leads the world championship by 62 points going into the Azerbaijan GP this weekend but he has not won for six races. The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, has insisted the team’s slump, prompted by issues with their car’s balance they are struggling to solve and which their Dutch driver has severely criticised, are not connected to Newey leaving and ceasing to be involved with the car’s development.