Adrian Newey admitted that he didn't know where his Formula 1 future lay after his decision to quit the Red Bull team. There were plenty of options on the table from other teams, but projects outside of F1 and even retirement were considered by the revered designer.
At his unveiling at Aston Martin on Tuesday, Newey spoke of needing a new challenge; with Red Bull, he'd helped turn it from a midfield outfit into a championship winner and then pounced on the 2022 regulations to imbue the team with a new era of dominance.
With his new role at Aston Martin, officially 'technical managing partner', he'll be looking to recapture the same lightning in a bottle and move the prestigious marque to the front of the field.
Newey spoke about the lengthy decision time needed for him to chart his next course. After becoming more involved in the 2022 Red Bull project, the Briton took a step back through 2023 and 2024 - so jumping back into a more hands-on role was also a factor in his deliberations.
But rumours that Newey was set to step down from his Red Bull role had already come to the fore in March amid the team's tumult, in which a power struggle between Christian Horner and Helmut Marko accelerated the undercurrent underneath the misconduct allegations against Horner earlier this year.
Whether it was of any consequence to Newey will likely never be known, but it was known that cracks had started to form at that stage - as the Thai side and the Austrian side of Red Bull GmbH were in conflict.
March - First suggestions that Newey's long-term Red Bull future was in doubt
A scheduled trackside absence at the Australian Grand Prix was an unfounded base for suggestions that Newey may move to a different project. Rumours that he would start to devote all of his time to Red Bull's RB17 hypercar emerged, but he was indeed due to return to his trackside role at the Japanese Grand Prix two weeks later.
However, this was also when Aston Martin made its first play for Newey. Perhaps seeking to capitalise on the off-track disorder at Red Bull, Lawrence Stroll is said to have offered Newey a princely sum of money to change postcodes, offering him the challenge of getting Aston Martin to the front as the 2024 car did not come out of the blocks as quickly as its predecessor.
The stumbling block was that Newey had penned a fresh deal at Red Bull in 2023, and the ex-Williams/McLaren technical chief had stated at the end of that year that he was not looking to leave. But it had become evident that the situation had started to change...
April - Newey decides to leave Red Bull over Suzuka weekend
The rumours of Aston Martin's offer to Newey continued to spiral, but it wasn't until the end of the month that it became apparent he would leave Red Bull. When Newey returned to the circuit at Suzuka, he felt that his mind was made up.
"I felt as if I needed a new challenge," he said. "And so towards the end of April, I decided I need to do something different. I spent a lot of time with Mandy, my wife, discussing: 'Okay, what's next. What do we do? Do we go off and sail around the world or I do something different, America's Cup or whatever'?
"When I decided to stop at Red Bull, which was kind of really over the Suzuka weekend back in April, then genuinely I had no idea what would be next."
Motorsport.com reported that Newey was set to leave the team on 25 April, although his contract potentially necessitated a wait until 2027 before another team could sign him. He was contracted to 2025, with a potential 12-month gardening leave period also to serve. But a resolution wasn't far away.
May - Departure announced, but what's next?
On 1 May, Red Bull announced that it and Newey would be parting ways. The 65-year-old was going to begin winding down his at-track activities and shift more of his focus towards completing the RB17, and the team had also agreed to cut his contract short so that he could leave the Red Bull Technologies set-up in March 2025. Crucially, this would make his involvement in a team's 2026 car possible.
Aston Martin had already made its play earlier on, but Ferrari was considered the prime option. The Italian squad had battled against Newey throughout the late 1990s, the 2000s and 2010s, and again in 2022, and the two giants finally uniting appeared to be a compelling prospect. Future Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton stated that "if I was to do a list of people that I'd love to work with, [Newey] would absolutely be at the top of it".
Williams also threw its hat in the ring, perhaps optimistically; team principal James Vowles was very much on board with the idea of restoring Newey to the team after he'd left at the end of 1996. "It would be remiss of me to not be talking to him. It is as simple as that," Vowles noted.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown played down any Newey links, but nonetheless stirred the Red Bull pot by stating "he's probably the first domino to fall, my guess is not the last based on the resumes that are flying around". Mercedes apparently explored the chance to sign Newey but opted against it - deciding to continue to back James Allison.
June - Aston Martin factory visit impresses Newey
Newey was still deciding whether to stay in F1 at this stage, although his people (led by Eddie Jordan) were in firm discussions with Ferrari and Aston Martin over a deal.
It was in late June that Newey decided he wanted to remain involved in a "man and machine" sport - recounting "what's the pinnacle of man and machine? Clearly, it's Formula 1. So yes, I remain interested in America's Cup. I remain interested in many other things, but if I'm going to do man and machine, might as well keep going at the pinnacle as long as people want me."
In that time, Newey had been invited for a private tour of Aston Martin's new facilities: the first building had been complete for almost a year, while the second and third parts were nearing completion. And he was impressed, not just by the scale of the new facilities, but by the layout and the "demonstration of Lawrence's commitment" to the team in funding the new building. The chance to assist the team with bedding in a new wind tunnel surely would have been of some interest.
"I think it was huge," Stroll said of the visit's role in swaying Newey. "It is hard to understand, comprehending or trying to explain these three spectacular buildings if you don't visit. It is a very big part of our tool to make us a championship team. We certainly couldn't have been a championship team with our old tool, so this had to be built to show our intent, our ambition to win. So getting Adrian here was critically important."
July and August - RB17 duties take over Newey's F1 involvement as rumours quieten
In the wake of that tour, Aston Martin was evidently the favourite to secure Newey's services as Ferrari's willingness to offer similar serenades had cooled. But no decision was going to be officially communicated until September, owing to a Red Bull agreement with Newey. In that time, Aston Martin announced the installation of Andy Cowell as CEO and Enrico Cardile as chief technical officer.
Newey was otherwise occupied with his Red Bull RB17 duties, with the reveal coming at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The car was not yet complete, having only entered the production phase at that stage, with further work to continue after track testing.
Across race weekends, Newey was also working with the drivers' feedback and assisting the team with clients - aiming to drum up custom for the 50 road-going RB17s to be produced.
September - Aston Martin announces Newey signing
At an event at its factory, Aston Martin announced that Newey would be joining the team as a technical managing partner and as a shareholder. Newey will set the vision for the various technical heads - including Dan Fallows, Luca Furbatto, the incoming Enrico Cardile, et al - with the aim of going for the 2026 title.
Ferrari had effectively pulled out of the running; although it had set aside a significant budget to entice Newey, it felt it would not win out in a bidding war against Aston Martin. Newey, who will join the team in March 2025, will be able to influence the team's path towards developing for 2026.
"Lawrence's passion and commitment and enthusiasm is very endearing. It's very persuasive," Newey said. "The reality is, if you go back 20 years, then what we now call team principals are actually the owners of the teams, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan, etc. In this modern era, Lawrence is actually unique in being the only properly active team owner.
"It's a different feeling when you have somebody like Lawrence involved like that, it's back to the old school model and to have the chance to be a shareholder and a partner is something that has never really been offered to me before. So it's a slightly different slant. It's one I'm very much looking forward to. It became a very natural choice."
