Ted Kravitz delivers fresh Adrian Newey to Aston Martin update amid ‘$100million’ deal claim

Adrian Newey with notebook in-hand.

After a spate of big announcements as F1 wound down for the summer break, the biggest is yet to come with Ted Kravitz revealing Adrian Newey to Aston Martin could be announced as soon as the end of the summer holiday.

No sooner had Formula 1 begun laying out the deckchairs on the Monday morning after the Belgian GP, or refuelling yachts, Williams announced Carlos Sainz for 2025 and that was quickly followed by news Jonathan Wheatley would leave Red Bull to become Audi’s team boss.

Early announcement for Adrian Newey to Aston Martin?

But the one big announcement we’ve all been waiting for, and since May, is what’s next for Formula 1 design legend and the sport’s most successful champion, Adrian Newey?

Red Bull confirmed on May 1 that Newey would leave the team in the first quarter of 2025 and he’s been on a soft gardening leave since then as the 65-year-old has been linked to almost every team in the paddock, but more recently Aston Martin.

And the Aston Martin rumours have taken off in recent weeks.

According to reports, Newey has signed a three-year $100 million deal to lead Aston Martin into 2026 when Formula 1 will not only revise the engine formula but also have smaller, lighter cars on the grid.

But despite Newey, Aston Martin and the design guru’s manager Eddie Jordan keeping their cards close to the chest, it does seem this is a done deal. And it’s one Kravitz reckons could be announced before F1 returns with the Dutch GP.

More on Adrian Newey’s Red Bull exit

Adrian Newey’s gardening leave explained: How F1 legend will spend his final days at Red Bull

Max Verstappen reveals crucial advice to Adrian Newey with Red Bull exit confirmed

Insisting that Red Bull losing Newey and Wheatley is “not unusual”, the pit lane reporter conceded it’s about the “quality of those people”. And in Newey’s case, also losing him to Aston Martin.

“Adrian Newey, I said this at the time and I’ll say it again, if you’re working in the Red Bull factory, two words you don’t want to hear: Adrian’s leaving,” he told the latest Sky F1 podcast. “Can you imagine the impact of those words? It’s like what? Adrian’s going? Oh no.

“So the impact of Newey leaving and potentially going to Aston Martin, the latest hot rumour to have signed his services to be announced at the end of the summer break – we’ll see if that turns out to be true or not.”

Newey had been linked to Ferrari, McLaren, and even Williams, but now the firm links are with Aston Martin.

Kravitz says Aston Martin’s technical director and former Red Bull man Dan Fallows told him he’d “certainly welcome working” with Newey if that happens.

“I think it’s more the environment that Newey… obviously the financial recompenses is important in terms of your value to a team, and if you win World Championships then you’re going to add that value back to the team,” Kravitz said.

“I think it’s more important for the people that he’s working with, the environment he’s working under, and where he’s working.

“You look at the investment that’s already happened at Aston Martin, you look at their factory, he’s already got Dan Fallows who he worked with successfully at Red Bull Racing there with him.

“He would have I imagine definitely talked to Dan Fallows. He would have taught Dan Fallows about what is this place that I’m coming to? What’s it like?

“And I asked Dan Fallows about this in Hungary. Actually I said, ‘Would you be happy, you know, bringing him back?’

“And Fallows said, ‘Look, what you have to understand is that Adrian is a relentless, unstoppable Formula 1 competitor, and I would be amazed if he didn’t join another team. And we would certainly, I would certainly welcome working with Adrian again at Aston Martin’.

“And you know, we’ve all had discussions with various people at Aston Martin about what you can offer someone like Newey and say ‘Look, just come in, be a figurehead, sprinkle your magic dust here and there, put our people on the right paths and we think we’ve got the ability to do the rest with Fallows and the team that are already there’.

“And, yeah, I think it’s a judgment call, isn’t it for Newey where he wants to feel happy ending up at and the current leader, if we’re to believe the rumours, is Aston Martin, but it could be any of those teams.”

Read next: F1’s next generation: 10 best young drivers under the age of 21 – ranked