Adrian Newey did weigh up working with Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari before electing to join Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin.
After officially leaving Red Bull, renowned F1 designer Newey was linked with a number of teams and Ferrari, who have recently signed Hamilton, was a serious option.
Newey outlined how “old model owner” Lawrence Stroll persuaded him to become the Silverstone-based team’s managing technical partner.
“Once after a couple of months I decided I would like to stay in Formula 1, Ferrari was one of the considerations,” Newey told Sky Sports News.
“I’ve made no secret of the fact I wanted to work with Fernando and I wanted to work with Lewis. And since they’re in different teams, I couldn’t fulfil both.
“But I think for various reasons, particularly Lawrence’s offer of shareholding and partnership and his commitment and the fact that he is the only one of that old model of team owners, where you have an active owner like Frank Williams.
“That was the model 20 years ago. Lawrence is the only one of that model now.”
He will begin his new role at the start of March 2025, ahead of the changes in regulations for chassis, aerodynamics and engines that will come into effect in 2026. “Naturally the ’26 car will be more of a focus for me than the ’25 car,” he said.
Newey is determined to help Stroll achieve his ambition of turning Aston Martin into a championship-winning team.
“The facilities are certainly here. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“Where we get to? For me, when I arrive on March 2 the first priority is to understand the team, get to know everybody, try to learn their names, which I’m pretty useless at really and go from there.”
He will bring an expectation of success with him. “My pressure’s always come from within in truth,” Newey said.
“Frank Williams many years ago said that he thought I was the most competitive person in the pitlane. I didn’t know how to take that at the time but after a year or two it started to sink in what he meant. I’m not sure he was right but I understood what he meant.
“I suppose I put quite a lot of pressure on myself, perhaps a little bit less than I used to as I’ve got older. But that pressure comes from within.”
He added: “Of course if the car’s not performing as well as we’d like then yes of course there’s pressure.
“But Formula 1 is always pressure. If you’re winning you’re under pressure to stay there, if you’re not winning, you’re under pressure to get there.”
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