Aston Martin may now be clear favourite to secure Adrian Newey’s services, but his Formula 1 future will not become clear until September because of an arrangement with Red Bull.
Newey has been pondering his next steps in F1 after deciding that it was time to move on from his role as chief technical officer at Red Bull. He will continue working for the Milton Keynes-based operation until March next year.
With Newey still regarded as one of the best design brains in the business, his availability has piqued the interest of rival teams – with a host of outfits all bidding to get him on board so he can help with their 2026 car projects.
And while Ferrari had emerged as the early front-runner to grab him, with McLaren and Mercedes also linked, more recently it appears that Aston Martin is leading the charge with what it can offer him.
Newey had a secret factory tour of its Silverstone headquarters last month, as negotiations continue between him and the team about potentially putting a deal together.
Sources insists that, while talks are at an advanced stage, nothing has been signed just yet – with Newey still understood to be weighing up what he wants to do.
However, Autosport has learned that there will almost certainly not be any official confirmation about Newey’s plans until September because of an agreement that is in place with Red Bull.
Sources with good knowledge of the situation say that, as part of the severance package agreed with Red Bull to let Newey leave early, he could not announce his future intentions until September at the earliest.
This would then leave a six-month window before he would be able to start officially working for any new team he had committed to.
Cowell announced; Cardile coming on board
Aston Martin is pushing hard to ramp up its infrastructure in its bid to lift its performance in F1, which has been disappointing in recent races.
Last week the team announced that former Mercedes engine boss Andy Cowell would be joining it as Group CEO in October, replacing Martin Whitmarsh.
Autosport also understands that a deal has been agreed for Ferrari chassis technical director Enrico Cardile to join the squad and bolster its technical line-up, which is headed by Dan Fallows.
As first revealed in May, Aston Martin had targeted Cardile because of the important role he had played in the development of its recent challengers since he joined the Ferrari F1 team from its Gran Turismo programme in 2016.
But while Cardile has agreed to join Aston Martin, it is unclear when it will be able to get hold of him, as he will most likely have to serve a period of gardening leave with his current employer.
The imminent changes at Aston Martin have lifted Fernando Alonso’s optimism about the future, as he has been a bit frustrated in recent weeks about the lack of progress being made.
Asked ahead of the British Grand Prix about the situation surrounding Cowell, Newey and Cardile, Alonso said: “I can only evaluate Andy Cowell, obviously, because all the others are just rumours.
“But yeah, the only one rumour that was not in the press for many months was Andy Cowell, and he was the one surprise for everyone.
“I’m very happy obviously. I don't know him personally, and I only respect him as an opponent in the past but I'm looking forward to meet Andy to chat about his view in the team. Obviously, Lawrence has a lot of trust in him.”
