Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner says Aston Martin was premature to celebrate the arrival of Adrian Newey while the designer is still serving out the final months of his contract at Horner’s team.
Newey (pictured at left, above, with Horner) was confirmed as managing technical partner and a new shareholder in a large-scale announcement event during the week at the team’s state-of-the-art new headquarters. The 65-year-old appeared in front of Aston Martin branding, talked at length about the company and appeared on stage with team owner Lawrence Stroll alongside drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
The legendary designer announced in May that he would quit Red Bull Racing, negotiating an early exit from his contract that would allow him start work for a rival next March. But he remains tied to Red Bull via the RB17 hypercar program until then, and he’s also appeared at several races in Red Bull Racing team kit.
Asked about the incongruousness of appearing at another team’s factory while still on the Red Bull Racing payroll, Horner suggested Aston Martin had pulled the trigger too early on welcoming Newey to Silverstone.
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“It was obviously a large announcement by Aston,” he said. “Adrian has always tended to do his own thing.
“They chose to celebrate it perhaps potentially slightly prematurely before he’s finished his contract with Red Bull Racing, but obviously it was a big moment for that team.”
Newey reportedly returned to work at Red Bull’s headquarters at Milton Keynes, around 20 miles east of Silverstone-based Aston Martin, at the end of his presentation event.
Despite the eyebrow-raising scheduling, Horner said he would be sad to see Newey eventually swipe out of the building for the final time, even if it had long become clear that the title-winning engineer had his heart set on working elsewhere.
“It wasn’t a great surprise,” he said. “I think it was becoming clearer and clearer that was the route that he was going to go rather than into retirement or any other team.
“Obviously it’ll be a new challenge for him, and we’ll be sad to see it when he leaves next year but wish him all the best for the future. I look back with great fondness at the 20 years almost that we spent together and obviously the highs and lows during that period.
“Adrian is obviously a very creative guy. He’s not your average designer. I think he’s the only person still in Formula 1 working on a drawing board.
“He’s unique in many respects, and I think that Aston will obviously look to draw upon his huge experience. But we look forward to the future, and I think we’re well positioned for that.”