Mega $150m switch confirmed for F1 designer

Formula 1’s most influential car designer, Adrian Newey, is joining Aston Martin in March 2025 after leaving Red Bull.
Newey has spent nearly two decades with Red Bull and is widely credited with putting the team on its path to dominance in F1.
Now he’s joining a team that has big ambitions to challenge for the title and the backing of billionaire Lawrence Stroll — but no race wins yet.
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Newey will arrive in his new role as “managing technical partner” in time to help shape how Aston Martin responds to the new F1 car regulations coming for 2026.
Last week, motorsport.com reported Newey had signed an eye-watering deal with Aston Martin worth $150 million over three years, plus bonuses.
Adrian Newey David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images
“As soon as Adrian became available, we knew we had to make it happen,” Stroll said in a statement.
“Our initial conversations confirmed that there was a shared desire to collaborate in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
The last time the regulations had a big change, with the return of “ground effect” aerodynamics for 2022, it was Newey’s Red Bull that dominated as Max Verstappen won the championship. Newey had a lifetime of experience to draw on, having written his university thesis on ground effect in the 1980s, back when it was previously used in F1.
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Aston Martin’s drivers are Fernando Alonso, the two-time champion who Newey has previously said he’d be keen to work with, and Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll.
Newey joined Red Bull in 2006 and helped the team win seven drivers’ titles — including the last three seasons with Verstappen — and six constructors’ titles.
Red Bull said in May that its chief technical officer would be stepping back from F1 design and focus on a production car, the RB17, before leaving in the first quarter of 2025.