F1 design guru Adrian Newey ‘holds talks with Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll’

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Adrian Newey has reportedly held talks with Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll as the F1 design guru ponders his next move in the sport.

Newey announced his departure from his role as chief technical officer at Red Bull last month and will leave the world champions at the start of 2025, following 19 years with the team.

Newey, 65, has been heavily linked with Ferrari and a link-up with Lewis Hamilton next year but The Times now reports that Aston have emerged as the frontrunners to secure Newey’s signature.

The report adds that Newey has met Stroll, who is confident of acquiring the services of the British engineer, and that Newey has been given a tour of Aston’s new HQ at Silverstone.

Newey has also been linked with a return to Williams, where he won his first world championships in the early 1990s, but he has not made a definite decision over his future for now.

Newey is seen as the key figure in Red Bull’s domination of F1 in the last three years, with his expertise in the current “ground-effect” era of car critical in Max Verstappen’s three consecutive world championships.

Yet Newey, unsettled by the furore surrounding Christian Horner and the internal politics within the team, confirmed his departure in May. He now no longer takes part in team meetings, and is primarily focused on the completion of his RB17 hypercar.

With F1’s engine and chassis regulations changing in 2026, Newey’s knowledge would be significant for any team able to draw upon his 30 years’ worth of experience in the sport.

Stroll, meanwhile, has poured billions of pounds into the Aston project in the last few years, signing two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to partner his son, Lance, and poach key Red Bull engineers such as Dan Fallows.

This triggered an upturn of results last year, with Alonso securing eight podiums, though the team have not won a race since Sergio Perez’s win in Bahrain in 2020 under their previous guise of Racing Point.

Not referring specifically to Newey, an Aston Martin spokesperson told The Times: “The Aston Martin Aramco F1 team is a very appealing project with Lawrence Stroll’s vision, a state-of-the-art new technology campus and exciting partnerships with Aramco and Honda.

“Many high-profile individuals across all areas of the team are linked to the project but we don’t have anything to announce.”