ASTON MARTIN HAVE DESIGNS ON NEWEY

ASTON MARTIN have launched an ambitious bid to convince Formula One car design legend Adrian Newey to walk away from Red Bull.

The Silverstone-based squad is keen to convince the 65-yearold to embark on one final new adventure in his long and successful career.

Newey (inset) has been with Red Bull since 2006 and has played a key role in designing all their title-winning cars.

He signed a new deal with ■ by DANIEL MOXON Red Bull only last year, amid interest from Ferrari.

But now another team has decided to make a place for the F1 champions’ revered chief technical officer. Aston Martin’s billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll is keen to lure Newey to join his growing project and has offered him a mega-money deal to convince him.

If successful, it would be the latest major signing made by Aston Martin, who have been on an aggressive staff recruitment drive in recent years. Most notably, Newey’s long-time colleague Dan Fallows left Red Bull to join at the start of 2022.

Several other designers have joined the project, while Aston Martin have also been investing in infrastructure.

A brand new HQ opened last year and a state-of-theart wind tunnel is on the way.

All of those moves are attractive to drivers, but landing Newey would be even more significant. His design brain would be a powerful weapon, but perhaps even more important will be his reputation in the paddock and the high regard in which he is held by key figures.

Signing Newey might be Aston Martin’s best way to convince Fernando Alonso (right) to stay, amid interest from Red Bull and Mercedes.

Perhaps even more ambitiously, it could help them convince Max Verstappen to join if the Dutchman decides to seek a fresh challenge away from Red Bull.