Working with Newey ‘would have been nice but it’s just one person’

Lewis Hamilton downplayed his disappointment at Adrian Newey’s decision not to join him at Ferrari next year.

Early this year Hamilton said Newey “would absolutely be on top” of the list of people he wants to work with. Hamilton hoped Ferrari, who tried on three previous occasions to sign Newey, would finally succeed in luring him to Maranello.

However Aston Martin announced on Tuesday the star designer will join them in 2025 following an 18-year stint at Red Bull.

Speaking for the first time since the announcement, Hamilton said “I think anyone would want to work with Adrian and it would have been nice, but it’s just one person.”

Fernando Alonso, Adrian Newey, Aston Martin, 2024 — Newey will work with Alonso at Aston Martin

“What I’m most excited about,” he told the official F1 channel, “is working with a whole team of people that are passionate and have not had a huge amount of success – or at least a championship – in a long, long time and it’ll be great to go and join them and try and get on that that journey together.”

Aston Martin also recently signed Ferrari’s technical director Enrico Cardile, who will join the team next year. However Hamilton’s future team mate Charles Leclerc remains confident in their potential.

“I’m not disappointed,” he told Sky, “I would be disappointed if we didn’t try or didn’t speak with Adrian. We spoke with Adrian as a team and at the end he made his choice and I completely respect the choice of Adrian of going somewhere else.

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“In Ferrari we have always valued the group more than one individual. Of course Adrian Newey is Adrian Newey and he’s incredible for everything he has achieved. But we have incredible individuals in Ferrari and I believe a lot more in the group and I’m sure that we have the right team in order to come back at the top.

Leclerc believes one factor in Newey’s decision to join Aston Martin was the presence of Fernando Alonso .

“I respect Adrian’s decision and he will be working alongside one of his favourite drivers, which is Fernando, and I wish him the best,” he said. “But I hope that Ferrari will come out on top.”

Newey announced his decision to leave Red Bull in May. Max Verstappen said the fact he had chosen Aston Martin shows its owner Lawrence Stroll is committed to making the team a success.

“I’m happy for Adrian,” he said. “I quickly spoke to him.

“It’s just different challenges. When you have been with a team for a long time, I can also see that yeah, maybe for him, definitely a new challenge. I know that Lawrence is pushing flat-out to make it a success and of course I hope for them that it can be a success.”

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