It already seemed like an open secret, but as anything can happen in F1, nothing was taken for granted. Today was the day when it was officially confirmed. Aston Martin signs Adrian Newey, is already part of the team, although he will not be able to work on the new car until March next year, so he will probably contribute little to the AMR25, and will be involved in AMR26, with a Honda engine and coinciding with the change in regulations.
After 18 years at Red Bull, the genius from Milton Keynes is heading to Silverstone, where a hungry team awaits him and also new facilities with the latest technology, with a wind tunnel that is the most advanced of the entire grid, as even the newest tunnels of other teams are already years old, so there will be no equal in terms of technology. This, hopefully, will help Fernando Alonso and Adrian Newey to achieve great things together.
Adrian Newey will work full time, and with a multi-year contract. It is not known exactly what salary he will get, there have been many rumours, and it has even been said that he could be paid in Aston Martin shares in order to avoid deducting Newey's salary from the budget limit. All rumours, and nothing confirmed, and it is not expected that it will be confirmed either, since these contracts have confidentiality clauses. What we do know is that Newey will not only be in charge of aerodynamics, he also becomes a partner of Aston Martin.
It should be remembered that Newey is the most shocking and important announcement in the history of Aston Martin, and even one of the most important in F1. Ferrari had the intention of signing him, but in the end they did not get it. Everyone wanted Newey, but in the end AM is the chosen one. A team that had already reinforced itself with other greats such as Mike Krack, Tom McCullough, Dan Fallows, Andrew Green, Bob Bell, and recent greats who have joined, such as Enrico Cardile and Andy Cowell.
Add that Adrian Newey, being a partner shareholder of AM, also will be the leader who decides the structure of his team, So there could be some changes in the current positions. Above Newey there will only be Lawrence Stroll. And it is very likely that more people who Adrian trusts will come. We will have to keep an eye on that.
Great technical team, new facilities, a champion like Fernando Alonso, and more money, since a few days ago the incorporation of two other investment partners who will join the team was also announced, in addition to Aramco and the rest of the sponsors. These Accel and HPS Investment Partners will be the two shareholders, which have caused the shares to skyrocket in value…
The pieces are there, they just need to fit together to complete the puzzle. Will there be 33? Will there be a World Cup? Time will tell…
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