Fernando Alonso quizzed on Adrian Newey’s rumoured ‘secret factory visit’
Fernando Alonso speaks to the media.
Fernando Alonso has looked to distance Aston Martin from “rumours” linking the team with ramping up their potential pursuit of Red Bull’s chief technology officer, Adrian Newey.
Newey will bring almost two decades of association to an end with Red Bull in the first quarter of 2025, leading to a purported clamour for his signature among the paddock as the sport’s most pre-eminent designer weighs up his next move.
Fernando Alonso asked about Adrian Newey to Aston Martin links
Additional reporting by Sam Cooper
Newey is understood to have been given a tour of Aston Martin’s brand-new Silverstone facilities recently in a reported ‘secret factory visit’ as he looks at his options moving forward, and PlanetF1.com understands Aston Martin have become a leading contender for his signature for when he becomes a free agent next year.
When asked if he would try to speak to Newey to persuade him to come to Aston Martin next season, Alonso was quick to say he had seen the recent reports, but also looked to keep himself clear of the speculation.
“There are many questions on that,” Alonso told media including PlanetF1.com in Spain.
“Yeah, I read the rumours, read the news. But is this coming from the same source and the same websites of one week ago he was in Ferrari and the announcement [was] at 12 o’clock before the Canada race? So, rumours are rumours.”
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When pressed on what he would say to Newey to try and convince him to come to Aston Martin in future, Alonso added: “That keeps between him and me.”
Newey has spoken in the past about his regret at having not worked with two of the sport’s great champions on the current grid, with his name also having been linked to Ferrari for the future.
“Working with Fernando and Lewis [Hamilton] would have been fabulous. But it never happened,” he has previously said.
“It’s just circumstance sometimes, that’s the way it is.”
When asked for clarification over whether or not Newey had visited Aston Martin’s factory and if he is set to join the team, an Aston Martin spokesperson told PlanetF1.com: “The Aston Martin Aramco F1 team is a very appealing project with Lawrence Stroll’s vision, a state-of-the-art new Technology Campus and exciting partnerships with Aramco and Honda.
“Many high-profile individuals across all areas of the team are linked to the project but we don’t have anything to announce.”
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