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Aston Martin’s designer Adrian Newey has entered what he says his wife calls a “design trance” as he works flat out on the team’s new car for 2026, pointedly noting that if the team are to attract Max Verstappen to their stable the only way is to build a championship-winning car.
The 66-year-old’s switch to Aston Martin from Red Bull last year was one of the biggest coups in Formula One in recent years and Newey was speaking while attending his first race with the team at the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend, having begun working with them in March.
“I had a weekend off two weeks ago, other than that it’s been pretty much full on since I started,” he said. “My wife, she says I go into a design trance and I can understand what she means. When I get into this sort of period of intense concentration, where I tend to not see left and right, all my processing power is going into one area, which is trying to work with the design of a fast racing car.”
Newey announced he was leaving Red Bull in April 2024 but could not contractually begin with Aston until this season. In Monte Carlo he confirmed that since then he has been working at full capacity on their car for 2026, the first for the new regulations which will come into play that season.
The team have repeatedly been linked to attempts to persuade the four-time champion Verstappen to join. Newey, who was instrumental at Red Bull in the Dutchman’s titles, said Verstappen’s head would be turned only if he was offered the right machinery.
“Max is clearly a phenomenal talent, he’s a supreme competitor and part of that means that Max likes to break things down to a simple common equation,” he said. “That is choosing a team that he believes will deliver the fastest car, so if we’re to ever attract Max, the first thing we have to do is make a fast car.”
During the period after Newey announced he was leaving Red Bull, the team played down his influence on their latest car, suggesting his role had been reduced to working on it only two or three days a week. It is a claim Newey was understood to resent and disagree with.
He was insistent in Monaco that his work commitment to Aston Martin was absolute. He has signed a long-term deal, worth what is believed to be up to £30m a year, and will become a shareholder.
Newey’s reputation in F1 is second to none and he is one of the most sought-after talents in the paddock. Cars he has played a key role in designing have taken 13 drivers’ and 13 constructors’ championships for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. Since his first with Nigel Mansell and Williams in 1992, he has helped secure titles for Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkkinen, Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen.
He was persuaded to join Aston Martin by the team’s owner, Lawrence Stroll, as part of the Canadian’s commitment to making them championship contenders.
Newey also acknowledged he was working “99%” on next year’s car and that he felt the facilities at Aston Martin were exemplary, but that part of his task was to ensure the personnel, whom he praised as highly talented, were best able to exploit their potential.
“The factory is probably the best factory in F1 and the wind tunnel is arguably the best wind tunnel in F1,” he said. “But ultimately wind tunnels are a bit like engine dynos, you need them and a really good wind tunnel, of course, but ultimately it’s not really the thing that makes the difference, it’s the human element of the design you put into it.”
